The disclosed embodiments relate to headwear, and more particularly, to a ventilated hat insert for shaping and protection of headwear, such as baseball caps, and methods of attaching the insert to various headwear.
Existing hat inserts are not designed to protect the headwear. Rather, they are only designed to shape the headwear. Specifically, the existing devices are made of a non-porous foam or leather, which traps body heat, in turn causing excess sweating and accumulating body odor in the hat, or they are made of a paper-based or cloth material that rapidly deteriorates and does not hold its shape or absorbance. As such, the existing devices, while potentially useful for shaping a hat, are not designed to prevent sweat absorption into the hat. Specifically, existing devices are made of non-porous foam or leather.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure include a device (e.g., an insert or attachment) for shaping and protecting headwear. The device protects the hat from, for example, sweat, oils, make up, skin products, hair products, and the like. The device may include an elongate body shaped to fit along at least a portion of an interior surface of the headwear, and may include at least one ventilation orifice extending through the elongate body. In some embodiments, the elongate body is made of an absorptive compacted fibrous material (e.g., a pressed and/or needled wool felt material) that may be naturally moisture and oil absorbing and, as such, may prevent excess sweat, oils, make up, skin products, hair products, and the like from actually touching or getting into the hat by trapping it inside the absorptive compacted fibrous material.
Various other aspects, features, and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will be apparent through the detailed description and the drawings attached hereto. It is also to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are examples and not restrictive of the scope of the disclosed embodiments. As used in the specification and in the claims, the singular forms of “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In addition, as used in the specification and the claims, the term “or” means “and/or” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. It will be appreciated, however, by those having skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details or with an equivalent arrangement. In other cases, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the embodiments.
The elongate body 12 may include one or more ventilation orifices 14. The ventilation orifices 14 may help enhance ventilation and thus, minimize sweating of the wearer. While the ventilation orifices 14 are shown as circular in shape, the ventilation orifices 14 are not limited to being circular in shape. Rather, the ventilation orifices 14 may have any desired shape or size.
The elongate body 12 may be made of any of a number of absorptive compacted fibrous materials that is comfortable to wear (e.g., soft on user's skin), enhances ventilation (e.g., minimizes sweating) and is fire retardant. As an example, the elongate body may be made of a pressed wool felt material. Because wool is naturally antibacterial, use of such a material may prevent the buildup of unpleasant odors from prolonged or repeated hat wearing. The wool may also be naturally moisture and oil wicking and, as such, may prevent excess sweat from actually touching or getting into the hat by trapping it inside the woven wool fibers. While pressed wool felt is mentioned above, other similar and suitable absorptive compacted fibrous materials, such as needled wool felt, merino wool, synthetic wool, blended fire-retardant fibers, or any other absorptive compacted fibrous material, may be used to make the device 10. The device 10 can be made of Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) (e.g., US Federal Specification C-F-206G) compliant and non-SAE materials. In some embodiments, any SAE application of the device 10 may use fibers that are Restriction of Hazardous Substances (ROHS) compliant and fire resistant (e.g., FMVSS-302, FMVSS-218, or other federally mandated motor vehicle safety standard for fibers; likewise, other embodiments may require use of military standards such as American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) or other standards used to define flame retardant qualities in the US military and those of militaries in other countries). The fiber blends may contain: one or more of wool fibers, silver fibers, bamboo fibers, or synthetic fibers, or blends of one or more fibers. The device 10 can be made in any color.
The dimensions of the device 10 may depend on the type of hat the device 10 is used with. In some embodiments, the device 10 may have a sufficient thickness to be useful in reshaping wilted or unstructured hat crowns to a uniform and clean appearance. As an example, the thickness of the device 10 can be in the range of one eighth “⅛” of inch to-one thirty-second (“ 1/32”) of an inch. As an example, the device 10 with thickness “ 1/32” inch may be used in hats that are not size-adjustable (e.g., cowboy hats, military dress hats, drill sergeant hats, or other hats).
In some embodiments, a height of the device 10 may be shorter for hardhat applications and visor applications. As another example, for full hat applications, the device 10 may have full-circumference interior headband coverage with a height of one inch to two inches. The width of the device 10 can range anywhere from a full circumference of the hat to which the device 10 is attached to a portion of the full circumference (e.g., wide enough to cover a forehead of the wearer such as from ear to ear).
To use the device 10, the device 10 may be placed inside the headwear.
In some embodiments, the device 10 can include a fastener to attach the device 10 to the headwear. The fastener can attach the device 10 to the headwear detachably or permanently. The fastener can be used in addition to or alternative to tucking in the tabs 36 of the device 10. As an example,
The hook and loop fasteners may provide an attachment of low to moderate grip strength. The hook and loop fasteners may be attached to the device 10 and the hat 30 using an adhesive. In some embodiments, the adhesive may have very high permanent grip strength and be designed for use with synthetic fiber, fabric, and/or felted textile substrate. Other methods of attaching the hook and loop material may also be used. As an example, the hook material may be sewn in to the device 10 and the loop material may attached to the device 10 using the adhesive.
In some embodiments, the dimensions of a hook material are different from that of the loop material. As an example, the hook material (“attaching material”) is of a shorter length than the opposing loop material (“attachment receptive material”) (e.g., half the length of the loop material) applied inside the hat 30. In some embodiments, having the attaching material smaller than the attachment receptive material minimizes the damage that may be caused to the device 10 due to the force with which the device 10 may be removed from the hat 30, thus enhancing removability of the device 10. Further, having loops of lengths different from that of the hooks may allow adjustable device positioning within the hat 30.
The number of hooks and loops used may vary (e.g., based on the material of the device 10 or the hat 30). As an example, the number of hooks and loops is the same. As another example, the number of hooks may be more than the number of loops (e.g., a number of hooks may lock into a single loop that is of longer length than the hooks).
While the foregoing paragraphs describe the set of hooks 52a as being attached to the device 10 and the set of loops 52b being attached to the hat 30, in some embodiments, the set of loops 52b may be attached to the device 10 and the set of hooks 52a may be attached to the hat 30.
In some embodiments, the first fastener 52 may be a magnetic fastener, which allows the device 10 to be detachably attached to the hat 30. As an example, a first portion of the magnetic attachment can be a non-magnet metal tape (e.g., a magnetically receptive steel tape or other metal tapes that are attracted to a magnet) and a second portion of the magnetic attachment can be a magnetic tape (e.g., made of magnet). The non-magnet metal tape can be attached to the hat 30 at one or more attachment points on the interior surface 34 of the hat 30, and the magnetic tape can be attached to the device 10 at one or more attachment points on the away surface 53 of the device 10 (e.g., in a way similar to the hook and loop fasteners illustrated in
The non-magnet metal tape and the magnetic tape may be attached to the hat 30 and the device 10, respectively, using an adhesive. The magnetic tape may be high-gauss magnetic tape (e.g., gauss value above a specified threshold) that holds the device 10 firmly in position but also allows easy removability.
While the foregoing paragraphs describe the non-magnet metal tape being attached to the interior surface 34 of the hat 30 and the magnetic tape being attached to the device 10, in some embodiments, the non-magnet metal tape may be attached to the device 10 and the magnetic tape may be attached to the hat 30.
In some embodiments, the second fastener 62 allows self-alignment of the device 10 with the attachment points in the hat 30. Since the two sets of magnetic tapes are of opposing polarities, they attract one another into the same aligned position with every attachment using mirrored positioning of the opposite poles (e.g., magnetic tapes attached on the device 10 and the hat 30 in the same pattern of attachment points) causing the device 10 to automatically self-align with the attachment points on the hat 30.
The magnetic tapes may be high-gauss magnetic tapes (e.g., gauss value above a specified threshold) that hold the device 10 firmly in position but also allow easy removability of the device 10 from the hat 30. The magnetic tapes may be attached to the device 10 and the hat 30 using an adhesive. In some embodiments, the adhesive may have very high permanent grip strength and be designed for use with synthetic fiber, fabric, and/or felted textile substrate.
In some embodiments, the dimensions of the two sets of magnetic tapes are different. As an example, and as illustrated in
In some embodiments, the device 10 may be permanently attached to the headwear. As an example, a fastener such as an adhesive may be used to permanently attach the device 10 to the hat 30. In such embodiments, the device 10 may have an adhesive material on the away surface 53 (e.g., covering a portion or entirety of the away surface 53), which adheres the device 10 to the interior surface 34 in the crown portion 32 of the hat 30. The adhesive backing on the device 10 may be designed for use with synthetic fiber, fabric, and/or felted textile substrate. In some embodiments, the adhesion can be achieved using a double-sided tape in which one side of the tape is stuck to the away surface 53 of the device 10 and the other side of the tape is stuck to the interior surface 34 of the hat 30.
In some embodiments, every stitch that penetrates the material of the hat 30 may create a direct wicking pathway for moisture to get into the hat 30, which may defeat the point of using the device 10 with the hat 30. Accordingly, this method of attachment relies on as few stitches as possible at as few attachment points as possible to maintain good retention of the device 10 within the crown portion 32 over time, while minimizing penetrative contact area with the material of the hat 30. In some embodiments, the stitching is performed in a specific way to minimize the penetrative contact area with the material of the hat 30. As an example, the depth of stitch from the hat 30 into the away surface 53 of the device 10 is ensured to be less than the thickness of the device 10 (e.g., not exceeding half of the thickness, or other depths) to keep moisture migration path away (e.g., sewing thread) from the head of the wearer. In other words, the stitching may be performed in such a way that the sewing thread does not reach the near surface, is not visible on the near surface, or is not in contact with the head of the wearer when the hat 30 is worn by the wearer.
While the foregoing paragraphs describe the use of different fasteners in different implementations, in some embodiments, a combination of fasteners may be used to attach the device 10 to the hat 30. As an example, magnets may be used at some attachment points and hook and loop fasteners may be used at other attachment points.
In some embodiments, the shape of the device 10 may be customized by the wearer. For example, a template may include a set of perforations for various shapes of devices.
The second step (904) of attaching the fastener to the hat 30 may include attaching a second set of fasteners to the hat 30 at one or more attachment points. In some embodiments, the second set of fasteners can be attached to the hat 30 as described at least with reference to
After the fasteners are attached to the device 10 and hat 30, in the third step (906), the device 10 can be attached to the hat 30 by aligning the first set of fasteners on the device 10 with the second set of fasteners on the hat 30 and attaching the first set of fasteners on the device 10 to the second set of fasteners on the hat 30.
To remove the device 10 from the hat 30, the device 10 may be detached by pulling the device 10 (e.g., from one of the corners of the device 10, preferably proximate an attachment point) away from the hat 30. The wearer may easily use the device 10 with another hat (e.g., using the second step (904) and third step (906) if the other hat does not have fasteners attached to it, or using the third step (906) if the other hat already has fasteners attached to it).
In some embodiments, headwear may be made available to a wearer with a device, such as the device 10, attached to or included with the headwear. The wearer may use the device with the headwear or detach the device 10 from the headwear and use it with another headwear.
The above-described embodiments presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation. While these embodiments have been described with reference to numerous specific details, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the disclosed embodiments can be embodied in other specific forms. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that the disclosed embodiments are not to be limited by the foregoing illustrative details, but rather is to be defined by the appended claim.
The present techniques will be better understood with reference to the following enumerated embodiments:
The present application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/803,802, titled VENTILATED HAT INSERT filed on Feb. 11, 2019, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
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