This invention relates to hats and caps, in particular to head visor assemblies, apparatus, and methods of making a soft type foam visor with or without partial or full through-hole shaped openings, such as but not limited to geometrical shapes, letters, characters, and the like, that allow for accessories such as labels, charms, badges, sunglasses, and the like, to be plugged into the openings and easily removable and interchangeable with other accessories, with a headband and brim formed from or molded from an odorless EVA material that is water proof, floats in water, anti-bacterial, have good clarity and gloss, barrier properties, low-temperature toughness, stress-crack resistance, hot-melt adhesive, and resistance to UV (ultra violet) radiation.
Sun visors have become a popular type of headgear for keeping the sun off the face of the wearer. Often the visors are formed from a cloth or fabric type material with a fixed band. Other types of well known visors are formed from a hard plastic with rearwardly extending curved bands which wrap about part of the head of the wearer.
A problem with these prior art visors is that indicia (such as but not limited to advertisements, etc.) must be permanently fixed thereon. For example, sewing a label on a cloth or fabric visor is well known, but the label is not easily removable.
Painting indicia with markers and the like, can also be done on prior art visors, but the paint is also generally permanent. Peel and stick decals can also be used, but they are also intended to be permanent and are not intended to be easily removed or changed.
Using a hook and loop fastener, such as Velcro®, can also be used, but at least one side of the hook and loop fastener, must also be permanently attached to a surface of the visor.
Caps and visors have been made over the years with holes. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,782,206 to Kornsweet; U.S. Pat. No. D460,604 to Sullivan; U.S. Pat. No. D601,329 to Johns, the latter being the inventor of the subject invention. However, the holes were used for ventilation and/or decoration, and were not useful for mounting and supporting indicia thereon.
Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.
A primary objective of the present invention is to provide head visor devices, apparatus, and methods of using a soft type foam visor with or without patterns of partial and/or full cutout hole openings that allow for accessories such as labels, charms, badges, and the like, to be plugged into the openings and easily removable and interchangeable with other accessories.
A secondary objective of the present invention is to provide head visor devices, apparatus, and methods of using a soft type foam visor with or without patterns of partial and/or full cutout hole openings that allow for accessories such as labels, charms, badges, and the like, to be easily removable and interchangeable with other accessories.
A third objective of the present invention is to provide head visor devices, apparatus, and methods of using a soft type foam visor with or without patterns of partial and/or complete throughhole openings that allow for accessories, having an adjustable head strap that is also removable.
A fourth objective of the present invention is to provide head visor devices, apparatus, and methods of using a soft type foam visor with or without patterns of partial and/or complete throughhole openings with a puncture tool that can turn partial cutouts into throughhole cutouts to mount accessories thereon.
A fifth objective of the present invention is to provide head visor devices, apparatus, and methods of using a soft type foam visor with or without patterns of partial and/or complete throughhole openings having different shapes, such as but not limited to different geometrical shapes, letter shapes, character shapes, and the like, in order to mount accessories thereon.
A sixth objective of the present invention is to provide head visor devices, apparatus, and methods of using a soft type foam visor with without patterns of partial and/or complete throughhole openings that allow for accessories such as adapters to be able to mount sunglasses/eyeglasses to the visor.
A seventh object of the invention is to provide head visor devices, apparatus, and methods of forming a visor with a headband and brim formed from or molded from a soft plastic, such as but not limited to EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate).
An eighth object of the invention is to provide head visor devices, apparatus, and methods of forming a visor with a headband and brim formed from or molded from material that is water proof, floats in water, anti-bacterial, have good clarity and gloss, barrier properties, low-temperature toughness, stress-crack resistance, hot-melt adhesive, and resistance to UV (ultra violet) radiation. EVA has little or no odor and is competitive with rubber and vinyl products in cost.
An embodiment can be formed from a flexible and pliable material, a plurality of slot shapes on a front surface portion of the visor with headband, at least one accessory having a male member that mateably attaches into at least one of the slots, wherein the accessory is both attachable and detachable from the visor with headband.
The visor assembly can include a removable strap having ends that are attachable to left and right portions of the headband, the removable strap being formed from the flexible and pliable material. The removable strap can include rivet members having inwardly protruding portions for being insertable into a plurality of adjustment holes in the removable strap. The visor material can be EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate).
The accessory can include a logo plate, having indicia across a front surface of the logo plate, and/or a decorative charm.
The slot shapes can include circular shapes, noncircular geometrical shapes, outline shapes of different characters and objects.
The slot shapes can include through-hole cutouts through the visor, and/or partial cutouts through only a surface portion of the visor.
A puncture tool can be included for puncturing a partial-cutout into a through-hole cutout. An adapter can be used for attaching sunglasses/eyeglasses to the visor assembly.
A visor assembly kit, can include the combination of a visor with headband formed from a flexible and pliable material, a plurality of both through-hole slots and partial cut-out slots along a front surface portion of the visor with headband, a removable strap having ends that are attachable to left and right portions of the headband, the removable strap being formed from the flexible and pliable material, and a plurality of accessories, each accessory having a male member that mateably attaches into at least one of the through-hole slots and partial cut-out slots, wherein the accessories are both attachable and detachable from the visor with headband, and wherein the accessories are selected from the group consisting of logo plates and decorative charms and a puncture tool to punch out a partial cutout, and an adapter for mounting sunglasses/eyeglasses to the visor assembly. The plurality of both through-hole slots and partial cut-out slots, can include different shapes, such as different geometrical shapes, letters, character outlines.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments which are illustrated schematically in the accompanying drawings.
Before explaining the disclosed embodiments of the present invention in detail it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its applications to the details of the particular arrangements shown since the invention is capable of other embodiments. Also, the terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.
A listing of components will now be described.
The assignee of the subject application is also the assignee on U.S. Design Pat. No. D601,329 to Johns, which is incorporated by reference in its' entirety.
Referring to
The visor portion 20 with front band portion 30, and the back band (strap) 40 can be formed from or molded from a soft plastic, such as but not limited to EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate). The novel visor 10 can also be water proof, float in water, be anti-bacterial, have good clarity and gloss, barrier properties, low-temperature toughness, stress-crack resistance, hot-melt adhesive, and resistance to UV (ultra violet) radiation. EVA has little or no odor and is competitive with rubber and vinyl products in cost. The invention can be formed from other materials, similar to EVA, that also have similar properties.
The visor assembly 10 of the previous figures can have partial cutouts instead of completely through-hole cutouts 80. The partial cut-outs can have indentations through the visor/brim 20 and/or through the headband 30 that are not complete through-holes. These partial cut-outs can be molded to have narrow thicknesses than the rest of the visor/brim 20 and headband 30 material. As such, the user can use a puncture tool 140 as described in
The invention can be distributed and/or sold in a package or kit form, having visor assembly 1, along with a plurality of logo plates 60 and decorative (charm) parts 50 and puncture tool 140, and sunglass/eyeglass adapter 170.
Although, the cut-out slots (sockets) 80, 100 for the labels 60 and charms 50 are shown to be circular, the sockets can have other geometrical shapes, such as but not limited to triangular, rectangular, hexagon, and the like. Still furthermore, the sockets can be customized into other desirable shapes such as but not limited to character outline shapes, such as MICKEY MOUSE®, animals, mammals, birds, fish, and any other desirable outline shape, and the like.
While the invention shows plug on labels and charms, the invention can be used with other accessories. For example, a scalp cover can attach to the top of the visor assembly and have plug in base members that allow for the cover to protect the scalp of the wearer. Furthermore, a neck shade attachment formed from similar material or formed from cloth or fabric, can attach by plugable members to the rear of the band strap. Still furthermore, other accessories, such as but not limited to sunglass shades, and the like, can also be plugable onto the visor assembly.
Referring to
The head visor 200 can include a front head band that can have an overall height of approximately 1.98 inches, and the rearwardly extending sides can taper downward to a height of approximately 1.38 of an inch. The front end (front rim 224) can angle downwardly from the top (upper rim 234) of the headband 230 at an angle of approximately 140 degrees.
The brim 220 can include a raised rim 222/224 about an outer perimeter edge of the brim 220, the raised rim having a thickness and a width, along with a rear raised rim 226 between the brim 220 and the front head band 230. The thickness of the raised rim can be approximately 3/16 inch thick. The narrow width rim 222 about side edges of the brim 220 can expand into a wider rim 224 about a front portion of the brim 220. The narrow side rim 222 can have a width of approximately 0.11 inches and the wider front rim 224 a width of approximately 0.38 inches.
The front headband 230 can include an upper raised rim 234 and a lower raised rim (rear raised rim 226) parallel to the upper raised rim 234. The front head band 230 can include rearwardly extending sides each having an upper side rim 232 and lower side rim 236. The upper raised rims 232, 324 and lower raised rim 236, 226 can each include a thickness of approximately ¼ inch.
The back (rear) band 240 can include an upper raised rim 242 and a lower raised rim 244 parallel to the upper raised rim 242, each rim 242, 244, having thickness and a width. The thickness of each raised rim 242, 244 can be approximately 3/16 of an inch. The height of each raised rim 242, 244 can be approximately ⅛ of an inch.
Each end of the rear headband 240 includes a generally circular shape 246 with a circular raised rim, having a similar thickness and height to the raised rims 242, 244. The circular rear end 246 can include a diameter of approximately 1 3/16 of an inch with the rivets 290 for attaching the rear band 240 to the rearwardly extending sides of the front headband 230. Each of the rivets can have a rounded head portion that can have a diameter of approximately 9/16 of an inch.
The term “approximately” can include +/− ten percent of the number value that follows the term “approximately.”
Referring to
Referring to
While the invention has been described, disclosed, illustrated and shown in various terms of certain embodiments or modifications which it has presumed in practice, the scope of the invention is not intended to be, nor should it be deemed to be, limited thereby and such other modifications or embodiments as may be suggested by the teachings herein are particularly reserved especially as they fall within the breadth and scope of the claims here appended.
This application is a Continuation in Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/279,994 filed May 16, 2014, which is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/690,881 filed Nov. 30, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,763,163, which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/565,627 filed Dec. 1, 2011, and this application is a Continuation In Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 29/477,813 filed Dec. 27, 2013. The entire disclosure of each of the applications listed in this paragraph are incorporated herein by specific reference thereto.
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
61565627 | Dec 2011 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 13690881 | Nov 2012 | US |
Child | 14279994 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
Parent | 14279994 | May 2014 | US |
Child | 14593640 | US | |
Parent | 29477813 | Dec 2013 | US |
Child | 13690881 | US |