Patent ID: 7945971
Filing Date: 2011-05-24
Classification: A42B

Abstract:
1. A hair-gathering hat construction for effecting a hair-gathering aperture, the hat construction comprising: a crown portion, the crown portion defining a head-receiving opening and comprising superior, inferior, and posterior crown sections, the superior crown section being peripherally discontinuous at the posterior crown section thereby forming a hair-gathering site, the inferior crown section being peripherally continuous; a hair gathering assembly, the hair gathering assembly comprising a centralized hair-gathering elastic annulus and an annulus-expansion interface concentric with the annulus and extending radially therefrom, the interface being attached to the crown portion at the hair-gathering site and comprising flexible fibers extending radially from the crown portion to the annulus, the annulus being actuable intermediate a relaxed, hair-gathering configuration and an actuated, hair-receiving configuration, the flexible fibers being flexibly deformed when the annulus is in the hair-receiving configuration and flexibly restored when the annulus is in the hair-gathering configuration, the annulus thereby providing a hair-gathering aperture; and means for patching the hair-gathering aperture.