The present invention relates to insulating liners and particularly, but not exclusively, for insulated articles of apparel and to an improvement of the construction of the article of apparel to reduce restraint of movement of a wearer person arms and body by the article of apparel and its thermal insulating liner and thereby enhancing the wearer person's freedom of movement.
The construction of thermally insulating articles of apparel, such as jackets and coats, formed with a thermally insulating liner secured inside an outer fabric shell are bulky and heavy and cause restraint of movement of a wearer persons arms and body. This makes the article of apparel heavy and uncomfortable and restraining, particularly so during sports activities where the body and arms are in continuous motion. Furthermore, where the insulating fabric material overlaps, such as in the arm pit areas where the sleeve overlaps the body portion of the article of apparel, the overlapped insulation causes the wearer person to sweat in the arm pit areas.
Another disadvantage of thermally insulating articles of apparel is that they have limited use for the reason that they provide comfort only during specific climatic conditions, for example during winter months only when temperature are very cold and below freezing. If the temperature increases above freezing then the article of apparel is uncomfortable and the wearer person must resort to the use of another article of apparel adapted to a warmer environment.
It is also known to have articles of apparel with detachable insulating fabric liners attached to the outer shell by the use of zipper fasteners whereby the outer shell can be used for a prolong period of time by the removal of the liner. A disadvantage of such insulating liners is that they further restrict arm and body movements of a wearer person due to the fact that the article of apparel is bulky and adds fabric weight when pulled by arm movements and further cause a restriction to the arm movement. Still further, the liner fabric being most often made from wool material often causes a wearer person to perspire which is undesirable.
It would be desirable to overcome the above mentioned disadvantages and to provide additional features of such articles wherein such articles may have others applications and can be used for longer periods of time with different applications.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide an article of apparel which substantially overcomes the above mentioned disadvantages of thermally insulated liners used in articles of apparel and which provides additional features, uses and applications.
A further feature of the present invention is to provide a thermally insulating article of apparel wherein the thermally insulating liner is secured by tack fastening means secured at predetermined locations inside the article of apparel to reduce restraint of movement of a wearer person's arms and body by the outer shell and liner and thereby enhancing the wearer person's freedom of movement. Such article of apparel would be of great advantage for military personnel, police and firefighters, commercial fisherman and outside workers of many trades.
A further feature of the present invention is to provide a thermally insulating article of apparel wherein the thermally insulating liner is detachably secured inside the outer shell of the article of apparel providing ease of removal and replacement of the thermally insulating article of apparel with other thermally insulating liners of different thermal insulating values.
A further feature of the present invention is to provide a thermally insulating article of apparel wherein the thermally insulating liner is in the form of a vest which is detachable secured inside the outer shell of the article of apparel and can be worn as a separate article of apparel.
A still further feature of the article of apparel is to provide a thermally insulating liner in the form of a vest which is detachable secured inside the outer shell of the article of apparel and wherein the arm holes, the rear and front panels and the neck opening are provided with cord locks for sealing the openings against a wearer person's body to maintain body heat inside the vest when worn independent of the article of apparel outer jacket shell and further wherein the cord locks can be loosen to permit ventilation and air circulation inside the vest.
According to the above features, from a broad aspect, the present invention provides an article of apparel comprised of an outer fabric shell defining body portion and arm portions. The body portion has a back panel section and one or two front panel sections. A liner is secured to the back panel section and the one or two front panel sections by tack fastening means positioned at predetermined locations of the liner whereby to provide free floating displacement of the liner with respect to the outer fabric shell when worn by a wearer person to reduce restraint of movement of the wearer person's arms and body by the outer shell and liner and thereby enhancing the wearer person's freedom of movement.
According to a further broad aspect of the present invention, the liner is a thermally insulating liner having thermally insulating material and preferably, but not exclusively formed of a composite down material sheet having a stretchable down core structure.
According to a still further broad aspect of the present invention, the tack fastening means are constituted by detachable tack fasteners to permit removal of the thermally insulating liner. Further, the thermally insulating liner is a replaceable liner with other thermally insulating liners of different thermal insulating values whereby to permit a wearer person to interchange the thermally insulating liners to adapt the article of apparel to different climatic conditions. Still further, at least two or more of the thermally insulating liners are provided for removable securement to the outer fabric shell of the article of apparel.
According to a still further broad aspect of the present invention, the detachable liner is a sleeveless thermally insulating vest having front and rear interconnected body panels defining arm holes, a neck opening and a bottom opening. The sleeveless insulating vest is formed by an outer fabric shell, an inner lining material fabric and an intermediate thermally insulation material held captive between the outer fabric shell and the inner lining material. An adjustable tie means is provided along the arm holes, the neck opening and the bottom opening to provide for adjustment of the openings wherein to permit sealing of the arm holes, neck opening and bottom openings against a wearer person's body to maintain body heat inside said sleeveless insulation vest and to further permit ventilation of the wearer person's body.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
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In one of its aspects, the jacket 10 has at least two thermally insulating liners 14 provided therewith with the liners being replaceable and of different thermal insulating values whereby to permit a wearer person to interchange the thermally insulating liner 14 with an other liner of different thermal insulating value to adapt the article of apparel 10 to different climatic conditions.
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Preferably, but not exclusively, the sleeveless insulating vest 50 is formed of an outer fabric shell which is a waterproof and breathable synthetic fabric material, an intermediate insulation material formed by a down material sheet having a self-supporting core mixture of down feathers and a binder throughout and an inner synthetic fabric material. The down material sheet is a also preferably a stretchable sheet as described in my U.S. Pat. No. 9,380,893, issued on Jul. 5, 2016 and which provides multi-directional stretchability to prevent fragmentation of the core mixture by body movements of the wearer person. Such a self-supporting down core mixture being formed as a uniform sheet throughout is free of cod spots formed by down material retention stitching which is illuminated by this down sheet structure.
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It is within the ambit of the present invention to provide any obvious modifications of the embodiments described herein provided such modifications fall within the ambit of the appended claims. As examples only, the thermally insulating liner 14 can be formed with sections having different thermal insulating values, ie., the back section having an upper portion thicker than the bottom portion to provide more warmth in the upper back of a wearer person. The liner could also be formed with thermally insulating flaps to overlap the non-secured peripheral portions of the liner to provide insulation over the displaced areas of the liner where cold spot areas may form during displacement of the liner. The thermally insulating sleeves may also be formed by a single flat thermally insulating sheet which is overlapped by the user person and secured by strip attachments, such as magnetic strips or “Velcro” (loop and hooks), registered trademark of the 3-M Company. As described, the collar of the jacket may permit the article of apparel or the shell only thereof, to be concealed in a pouch to convert the collar to a pillow to provide comfort to the user person such as when traveling in an aircraft, bus, etc. The outer fabric shell may also be formed with stretchable material sections to provide for additional freedom of movement working in concert with the thermally insulating floating liner.
It is also within the ambit of the present invention to provide a sleeveless thermally insulating vest having front and rear interconnected body panels defining arm holes, a neck opening and a bottom opening. The sleeveless insulating vest is formed by an outer fabric shell, an inner lining material fabric and an intermediate thermally insulation material held captive between the outer fabric shell and the inner lining material. An adjustable tie means is provided along the arm holes, the neck opening and the bottom opening to provide for adjustment of the openings wherein to permit sealing of the arm holes, neck opening and bottom openings against a wearer person's body to maintain body heat inside said sleeveless insulation vest and to further permit ventilation of the wearer person's body.
The floating liner concept of the present invention is also intended to have different uses such as for providing a thermally insulating barrier to tents to keep warmth in winter months and to keep the tent cool in summer months while expelling humidity. For such an application the down sheets would be fabricated as panels and retained to the walls of the tent by tack ties which may be permanent or detachable, as above described. The panels would be uniform thickness throughout and maintain this uniformity and thus eliminating cold spots formed by stitching or manipulation. The panels being formed from down feather material would be thinner than ordinary synthetic or natural insulating material making them light weight and easily packaged in small carrying bags or pack sacks. The panels could also be fabricated with different CLO counts to adapt the tent to different climatic conditions and provide for a quick adaptation to changing harsh climatic conditions, such as we find in the State of Alaska, for example. This would be of great asset for military use and commercial applications.
Many modifications and other embodiments of the present invention as described above will come to mind to a person skilled in the art to which the invention pertains having the benefit of the teachings described herein above and the drawings. Hence, it is to be understood that the embodiments of the present invention are not to be limited to the specific examples thereof as described herein and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention and the appended claims. Although the foregoing descriptions and associated drawings describe example embodiments in the context of certain examples of the elements and members and/or functions, it should be understood that different combinations of elements or substitutes and/or functions may be provided by different embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and other equivalent terms are contemplated herein with respect to the items that they relate to. It is therefore within the ambit of the resent invention to encompass all obvious modifications of the examples of the preferred embodiment described herein provide such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.