Patent Grant
7191470
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a garment worn by a paintball player. The garment has a sticky surface for positioning and griping the butt stock of a gun against the garment wearer's torso.
2. Description of Related Art
In the sport of paintball, a player wears a garment which covers the torso. When aiming and shooting, the user stabilizes the gun to improve accuracy by pressing the butt end of the paintball gun to the torso garment.
A common problem in the sport of paintball is that the butt end of a paintball gun, which is an air tank, easily slips off of the user's shoulder or chest or other portion of the torso when the user contacts the torso-covering garment with the butt end of the tank to support the gun for shooting accuracy.
The butt end of the tank typically has a round, smooth surface with a low coefficient of friction in contact with commercially available garments, such as jackets, jerseys, vests or other garment configured to cover and protect the paintball player's torso, and made of material which allows the butt end of the tank in contact with the material to easily slip or slide. This makes it difficult for the user to achieve shooting accuracy.
The present invention overcomes this problem by providing a torso-covering or torso-encircling garment which has gripping, non-skid surface on at least a portion of the garment which grippingly contacts the butt end of the tank when the player attempts to support or stabilize the gun against the torso for shooting accuracy.
The present invention provides a garment for playing paintball which is a torso-covering garment having at least two mirror-image gripping regions each containing one or more gripping areas that bear a plurality of raised tacky protrusions on one or more portions of the garment which covers at least a portion of the torso, that is, one or more of the shoulder, chest, and abdominal areas of the torso. The garment enables the paintball player to grippably contact a gripping area of the garment with the curved rear portion of the air system tank of the paintball marker, which enhances stability and improves shooting accuracy. Further provided is a method of playing paintball which comprises wearing the garment of the invention while playing paintball.
The garment, which has a body side, comprises one or more flexible fabrics. The fabric has an outer side comprising one or more gripping areas. Each gripping area comprises a pliant, non-cushioning substrate. The substrate has a sticky surface for gripping engagement or contact between the butt stock of the user's gun and the gripping area. The garment covers at least a portion of the user's torso. Among common embodiments of the garment are shirts, jerseys, jackets, and vests.
Definitions
The term “garment” means an article of clothing, especially outer clothing. Garments are articles which include shirts, jerseys, jackets, and vests. Torso garments include torso-encircling articles or articles configured to be worn about all or part of a torso, attached to a torso-covering garment, or worn about another torso-covering article. In the context of this disclosure, stabilizing the butt stock against the torso or placing the butt stock against the torso should be understood to mean that the butt stock is positioned against a garment being worn over the torso.
The term “flexible” as in “flexible fabric” refers to fabric which is pliant, and which is used in the manufacture of articles of clothing.
“Sticky surface” is a term which is used herein to mean a surface which provides a gripping or adhesive force mediated by friction and/or suction against the butt stock of a gun, for example, the tank of a paintball gun. The sticky surface, disposed on an outer surface of the substrate in a gripping area of the garment, achieves gripping or gripping engagement in contact with the butt stock of a gun which has a surface that would ordinarily slip in contact with a garment which does not have a sticky or gripping surface.
A “gripping area” 15 is sticky surface together with the substrate 50. A gripping area can have a variety of planar shapes consisting of polygonal and curvilinear, and includes without limitation, substantially circular, substantially rectangular, substantially trapezoidal and substantially triangular, including square, rectangle, circle, oval, or irregular shapes, and combinations thereof as desired, for more or less effect, as desired. Gripping areas of similar shape can be reconfigured on the torso. The garment comprises one or more gripping areas. A gripping area is not padded.
The “butt stock” 25 or “buff” of a gun refers to the portion of the gun which is held against the torso or shoulder to improve the user's aim of the gun. In a broader sense, a butt stock refers to any structure of a gun which the user places against his or her torso to stabilize the gun's position to improve aim of the gun in the act of shooting. The butt stock of a paintball gun is typically the rear end 25 of the air system tank 20, as shown in
As used herein, the term “body side” denotes a position relative to the user's body and does not necessarily imply that the body side is contiguous with the outer side. For example, a laminate structure may contain multiple layers on the body side and the outer side.
The term “substrate” means a flexible material of suitable strength and durability so that it can be used in the construction of the articles of the invention. In the context of the present invention, a substrate can be the fabric of the garment as well as laminates, layers, coatings, and/or additional fabric which may be disposed between the fabric and the sticky surface.
The term “non-cushioning” means not suitable for absorbing a blow. The degree of compressibility of the gripping area of the invention is not sufficient for absorbing a blow, i.e. a gripping area is not padded. Non-cushioning materials include those which are relatively non-compressible in which the degree of compressibility is insufficient to absorb a shock or blow.
The term “coating” refers to a matrix or layer of material having sticky texture and positioned on the outer surface of the substrate. “Coating” also refers to methods of applying a coating. Coating may mean disposition of sticky material within the substrate or impregnating the substrate. Coating may also refer to disposition of sticky material as a surface layer upon the substrate. Coating in the hands of one skilled in the art can be used to form continuous (i.e. uninterrupted) or protuberant gripping areas.
Turning to the illustrations,
Gripping Area. A gripping area 15 has sufficient surface area to create “gripping engagement, which means sufficient gripping friction between the butt end of the tank and the gripping area to retard or prevent slipping of the butt end of the tank over the outer side of the garment comprising a gripping area to enhance aiming the gun. A sufficient area for gripping engagement with the butt end of the tank can be as small as about 1 square inch. Preferred sizes for gripping areas range upwards from about 6 square inches.
A gripping area 15 can be formed from a plurality of sticky surfaces configured in a gripping area. As shown in
Although the desired density of protuberances is variable, it may be practically undesirable for some embodiments to have a single protuberance which lacks sufficient grippability to grip the butt end of the gun. On the other extreme, the stickiness applied to the butt stock is delivered vis a vis the end points of the protuberances and divided among these points. Therefore, the more protuberances in a gripping area, the gripping effect of the end points is enhanced and less pressure or force is required to grippingly engage the butt stock to the garment.
The garment of the invention is not restricted in scope to the disclosed patterns of gripping areas 15, ranging from lines 62 to circles and dots as shown in
In preferred embodiments, protuberances should have a substantially uniform height dimension to uniformly apply gripping friction to the butt stock. Protuberances of varying height may employed in certain applications and are within the scope of this invention. A combination of shorter and longer protuberances may be desirable to provide certain gripping characteristics.
Protuberances may be arranged on a substrate in any manner. They can be arranged in a random manner or uniformly. As shown in
Operation of the Garment. In use, when a gripping area 15 of the garment is engaged with the butt stock 25, the sticky surface (e.g. area A of
Torso locations for a gripping area include one or both shoulder areas. Other areas include abdominal area and chest. The grip-enhancing gripping areas are positioned at all or some of the areas on the garment that contact the butt stock when the user positions the gun against the torso to improve aim. Although not preferred, the outer side of the garment and the gripping area may be coextensive.
General Construction of the Garment
The gripping area of the garment comprises a pliant or flexible substrate 50, which is non-cushioning and which has a sticky surface 35 (or collectively protuberances 60) for gripping engagement with the butt stock.
Structure of Substrate. A flexible fabric substrate is formed of natural and/or synthetic fibers, which may be woven or non-woven and spun of filament yarn of the desired length. Cotton, polyester, nylon and rayon are typical materials which may be used as fibers or yarns in this invention. For example, a substrate is a woven fabric typically used for making an athletic jersey. Flexible fabrics suitable for forming a gripping area include, but are not restricted to textiles and fabrics manufactured or supplied by DuPont, Schoeller, Top Value Fabrics, Dow, Formosa, Brookwood, John King, and the like.
A flexible fabric may consist of non-woven materials including, but not restricted to, neoprene, rubber, leather, cordura (tm) Naugahyde(tm), PVC, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyurethane, various leathers, and vinyl. Representative fibrous materials may be comprised of wool, polyesters, polyamides, such as Kevlar or Nomex which are products of DuPont, polyolefins, such as polypropylene and polyethylene and copolymers of acrylic acid, such as polyacrylonitrile. If a knitted web substrate is used, it may be cotton, polyester, or a cotton-polyester blend. If it is woven, it may be nylon or cotton. The material forming the sticky surface of the laminate, in accordance herewith, as discussed above, includes polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, acrylonitrile, natural or synthetic rubber.
Accordingly, the invention includes a gripping surface substrate which may be a fabric web comprised of a non-woven fibrous web, a knitted fabric web such as knitted jersey, or a woven fabric, for example. The substrate may be comprised of natural or synthetic fibers or blends thereof including, for example, polyester, or a polyester-cotton blend. Preferably the gripping surface is flexible and has a degree of texture or stickiness as desired for providing a gripping surface which is non-cushioning.
Application of Sticky Material to Substrate
A sticky surface is formed on a substrate by disposing sticky matrix material on the outer side of the substrate or fabric in an amount sufficient to impart the desired grippability or stickiness for gripping engagement of the butt stock to the outer side of the garment.
The fabric substrate is spread coated, calendared, dipped or otherwise contacted with a sticky matrix material. Suitable matrix materials include thermoplastic resins, thermosetting resins, polyurethanes, or natural or synthetic elastomers. PVC and other polyolefins are suitable thermoplastic resins, while preferred polyurethanes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,001,208 and 5,013,811, which are each expressly incorporated herein by reference thereto. U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,936, incorporated herein by reference, discloses a method for forming a sticky surface on a fabric by pressure-fit in which a gum may be impregnated into the textile of the fabric without the use of any adhesive agent, or may be adhered by an adhesive agent. Furthermore, the fabric may be knitted, natural gum, or synthetic rubber. Various materials, such as perfluoroelastomer rubber, nitrile rubber, silicone rubber, neoprene, vinyl, natural rubber and others, are typically used. Other materials having similar sticky qualities are equally usable to achieve the objects of the invention.
In all cases, enough sticky material is applied to the substrate to over a sufficiently large area of the garment to form one or more gripping areas with surface having the qualities of gripping or sticky engagement with the butt stock, or to impart increased gripping properties to the substrate. As will be appreciated by practitioners-in-the-art, various polymeric coatings and methods for apply the same may be used, selected from a wide variety of polymers to form a sticky surface on the substrate. These methods include, but are not limited to, fusing, heat transfer, weaving, adhesive embossing, laminating, raised inks. The sticky surface can be made of a plurality of layers of the same or different materials.
One skilled in the art is aware of a number of techniques for applying sticky matrix materials in liquid form (i.e., by a solvent solution or a latex dispersion) to a fabric substrate. These methods include silk screening, sonic welding, heat pressure or iron-on.
Other embodiments of the garment involve gripping areas comprising double-back or double-sided adhesive sheets or iron-on sticky or tacky surfaces on the outer side of the garment.
Laminates or Composites
The garment of the invention includes gripping areas which comprise a laminate in which the outer side is a sticky surface for gripping engagement between the butt stock and the gripping area surface. Typically, such gripping areas are manufactured by a variety of methods for producing a laminate useful in the manufacture of wearing apparel. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,940, incorporated by reference) and to laminates wherein a flexible gripping surface is required. It is appreciated that those of skill in the art possess techniques for controlling the degree of stickiness of such laminate gripping surfaces.
An embodiment of the gripping area of the invention includes substrate which is flexible, fabric and which is embossed or imprinted. Methods for making embossed fabric substrates are well known in the art, and include that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,965, hereby incorporated by reference.
The sticky surface can be directly attached to the outer side of a garment or to a piece of flexible fabric by adhesive, sewing, molding, spraying, silk screening, coating, sonic welding, or combinations thereof as desired. Techniques for directly attaching a sticky surface to a flexible fabric are well-known to those of ordinary skill in protective garment manufacturing.
By way of illustration but not limitation, methods of fabricating the garment of the invention include (a) a substrate in the form of the garment absent the gripping areas onto which a sticky surface is applied or secured as a coating or laminate using the techniques described herein thereby forming the garment of the invention; (b) a substrate for incorporation into or onto the garment, onto which sticky surface is applied or secured by sewing or as a coating or laminate using the techniques described herein to form a gripping area, the gripping area either whole or subdivided into pieces, and then secured into or onto the remaining substrate of the garment by sewing, glue, cement, screw, heat bond, nut and bolt arrangement, rivets, velcro strips or other hook and loop type materials, butons, snap fasteners, and the like, thereby forming the garment of the invention; (c) combinations of (a) and (b).
The substrate which is incorporated into the garment may be formed into fabric pieces prior to the application of a sticky surface, or they may be formed from a previously prepared laminate of the sticky surface and a substrate. Many different customized or mass production techniques are used in the formulation of articles (i.e. the garment of the invention) in accordance with this invention. Obviously a variety of mass production techniques may be applied making the products of the invention here highly advantageous commercially.
While the sticky material of the gripping area allows the user to have greater control over the gripped object, i.e. the butt stock, it should be understood that the gripping area does not help cushion the user's torso from the force of the blow of the butt end of the tank against the torso.
It is envisioned that the gripping area will enhance gripping of a variety of shapes of a butt stock, such as the air system tank of a paintball gun, which is typically a cylindrically-shaped object, as well as to other irregularly shaped objects. As long as the shape of butt stock and the surface of the butt stock allow at least a gripping force to be developed between the gripping area and the surface of the butt stock, the grip-enhancing sticky surface will improve aim-control. The aim-control enhancing quality of the gripping area works when used to enhance the control via friction or suction on a relatively smooth surface, such as plastic, polished leather, metals, or the like.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2302368 | Evans | Nov 1942 | A |
| 2948899 | Allen | Aug 1960 | A |
| 4353133 | Williams | Oct 1982 | A |
| 4669125 | Allen | Jun 1987 | A |
| 4882786 | Gross | Nov 1989 | A |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20050114978 A1 | Jun 2005 | US |
