Abstract:
A sports jersey number device is convertible to display any of the digits 0 through 9, by opening or closing selected ones of seven flaps that display respective number segments.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    This application claims benefit of provisional application No. 62/000,816, filed May 20, 2014. 
     
    
       [0002]    The invention is concerned with sports jersey numbers, and more particularly is directed to a jersey number device, to be attached to a jersey of a particular background color, allowing adjustment of the device by securing and unsecuring selected ones of a series of flaps to produce any digit from 0 through 9. 
         [0003]    In sports, particularly children&#39;s sports, each player on a team must have a unique jersey number, and this can cause problems in some situations. For example, a need can quickly arise for a numbered jersey for a particular player at the beginning of a season, such as if two players&#39; jerseys bear the same number, or if a player does not have an appropriate jersey, etc. Also, a player might damage, lose or misplace a numbered jersey, requiring a quick replacement. This can cause unneeded difficulty and cost. 
         [0004]    There is a need for a universal jersey number device that can be secured to a jersey of a particular background color, the device being adjustable to display any of the digits 0 through 9, and with two such devices side by side for double-digit numbers. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The invention addresses this need, with a universal digit-forming device constructed of fabric or flexible sheet material, the device being securable to a jersey by stitching or adhesion or other techniques used for securing jersey numbers. The digit-forming device has a background color which will match the color for a particular team. Thus, the background color can be black, red, white, green, blue, etc., depending on the jersey to which it is to be secured. The device has a series of foldable/unfoldable flaps that cover or expose particular segments in a typical alpha-numeric segmented digit display, allowing adjustment of the device to display any of the digits 0 through 9. The segments each bear on one side the color to be displayed, e.g. white, while the series of individual flaps that cover particular segments are of the background jersey color, e.g. black, on the back side of these flaps. VELCRO, i.e. hook and loop fastener material, is on each of the flaps, as well as on each of two base receiving areas for each flap, to secure the display of the selected digit. The digit-displaying device can have two “windows”, preferably rectangular or square, in the usual positions of the alpha-numeric openings (at the two openings in an “8”), or these areas could be solid with the background color. 
         [0006]    In this way, the invention allows a quick provision of any desired jersey number to be applied to a jersey of the background color, or it allows a change of jersey number whenever needed, such as if a jersey needs to be transferred to a different player. These and other objects, advantages and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment, considered along with the accompanying drawings. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  shows a jersey digit-forming device in a fully closed state, displaying no digit, and illustrating structure of the device. 
           [0008]      FIGS. 2 through 11  show display on the device of digits 0 through 9, respectively. 
           [0009]      FIG. 12  shows the device with a particular form of digit-forming flaps. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0010]      FIG. 1  shows a universal jersey number device  10  essentially in plan view, with no digit being displayed. The back side (not shown) of this device  10  is essentially flat (but flexible) and is to be engaged against the surface of a jersey, by stitching, adhesion or other means. In many cases two of the universal number devices  10  can be positioned side by side so as to be able to produce a double-digit number. 
         [0011]    The device  10  has a base  12  that is essentially a flat sheet that may be in the shape shown, with upper and lower appendages  14  and two pairs of left and right appendages  16 , although the outer pattern or configuration of the base sheet could be larger and could be square or oval, for example. Visible parts of the base in  FIG. 1  are also designated B, while flaps are designated F. The configuration of the appendages  14  and  16  is essentially a minimum outline, the reason being that the device  10  includes seven movable flaps, all in the closed position here, and six of which when opened will be swung outwardly and engaged and held against those appendages  14  or  16 . The base  12  with its appendages preferably follows the shape of the flaps when opened, but the base could be of a larger area if desired. 
         [0012]    In  FIG. 1  the movable flaps are shown at  18 ,  20 ,  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  and  30 . The flap  18  is at top, the flaps  20  and  22  are left and right upper flaps, the flap  24  is a center flap, the flaps  26  and  28  are left and right lower flaps, and the flap  30  is a bottom flap. Each of these flaps  18 - 30  bears a strip of VELCRO hook/loop fastener material, to be engaged with a mating VELCRO strip  14   a  on each of the top and bottom appendages  14  or a VELCRO strip  16   a  on one of the left and right appendages  16 , thereby to retain the movable flap fully opened, as discussed below. The VELCRO strips of each flap  18 - 30  are designated  18   a ,  20   a,    22   a,  etc. In the case of the center movable flap  24 , when it is open its VELCRO strip  24   a  will engage with a VELCRO strip at  24   d  that is mounted on or fixed relative to the base sheet  12 . 
         [0013]      FIG. 3  shows the digit-forming device  10  with the upper and lower right side flaps  22  and  28  partially opened, an adjustment which when completed will display the digit “1”. In this example the insides of the flaps, along with an adjacent area secured to the base sheet  12 , in the areas  32   a,    32   b,    34   a  and  34   b  as shown on the drawing, display the digit segments, white in this example. When closed, as in  FIG. 1 , the flaps fold over these white segment areas and hide them from view; when opened, they expose the white segments that make the “1”.  FIG. 3  shows an inner or “closing” hook/loop fastener strip  22   b  on the flap  22  just opposite (behind) the outer VELCRO strip  22   a  that was visible in  FIG. 1 . This fastener strip  22   b  engages with a fixed fastener strip  22   c  (visible in  FIG. 3 ) that is secured to the base sheet  12 . For example, the outer and inner, back-to-back VELCRO strips  22   a  and  22   b  of the flap  22  can be hook fastener strips, while the fixed (base-secured) VELCRO strips  16   a  and  22   c,  to which the flap  22  is alternatively connected, can be loop fastener material. It should be understood that when the digit “1” is fully revealed, the outer edges of the right flaps  22  and  26  will be anchored down to the right appendages  16  of the base sheet, exposing the two adjacent white segments  33  and  35 . All other white segments, which will make up parts of various other digits, are covered and not visible, as shown in  FIG. 3 , and only the base color, which is the color of the jersey itself, is seen around the displayed digit. 
         [0014]    The digit-forming device  10  includes upper and lower “windows”  36  and  38  as seen in  FIGS. 1-3 . These are surrounded by VELCRO strips, which could be either the hook or loop fasteners, but preferably are the loop fasteners in this preferred embodiment. As noted above, these windows need not be provided, but instead the base sheet could be solid through these areas if desired, the color being the base sheet color, same as the jersey to which the number is to be applied. 
         [0015]      FIG. 2  shows formation of the zero. Note that  FIGS. 1 and 2  show a preferred shape of the flaps, terminating as points or arrows, especially the vertical segments  33 ,  48 ,  35  and  44  where they meet at mid-height, and also the center flap  24 . Squared ends are shown for these segments in  FIG. 12 , as discussed below. 
         [0016]      FIG. 4  shows the formation of the digit “2”. As compared to  FIG. 3 , showing the digit “1”, the center flap  24  has been opened (folded downwardly in this embodiment) to expose a white segment  41 , the lower right flap  28  has been closed to cover that white segment  35 , the top flap  18  has been opened to expose a top segment  42 , the lower left flap  26  has been opened to expose a lower left white segment  44 , and the bottom flap  30  has been opened to expose a bottom white segment  46 . In each case the opened or closed flaps are held in the desired position by the hook and loop fastener material. On the center flap  24  the white-side VELCRO strip  24   b  is more visible, its opposite-side VELCRO strip  24   a  now holding the flap  24  open. 
         [0017]      FIG. 10  (as well as  FIG. 12 ) shows the digit “8”, revealing all of the flaps fully opened. All of the segments previously discussed,  41 ,  42 ,  33 ,  35 ,  44  and  46 , as well as the upper left segment  48 , are revealed to make the “8”. All fold lines are seen (these being indicated as dashed lines  50  in  FIG. 12 ). The base is not visible (the flaps overlie it), except at the base-secured VELCRO strips  18   c,    20   c,    22   c,    24   c,    26   c ,  28   c  and  30   c,  these being numbered to indicate the corresponding flaps which they are capable of holding closed. 
         [0018]    The shape of the flaps  18 - 30 , and the shapes of the digit-forming segments that follow, are an important feature of the invention. Each foldable flap preferably is trapezoid-shaped, preferably with 45°-angled edges, so that when opened the flaps will form segment ends as shown in the drawings, and when closed, each flap is permitted to be closed without interference from a neighboring flap. Thus, if the top flap  18 , for example, were to be closed, its left edge would not interfere with the upper edge of the upper left flap  20 . Alternatively, the center flap could have a rectangular white area and the left and right flaps, where the uppers and lowers meet half way up, could have rectangular ends, as shown in  FIG. 12 . This provides continuous white vertical lines for digits such as “0”, “1”, “4”, “6”, “7”, “8” and “9”, but introduces square “steps” in digits such as “2”, “4” and “6”, as can be envisioned from  FIG. 12 . 
         [0019]    As can be seen from  FIGS. 4 and 10 , the digit “2” can be made into the digit “8” simply by opening the upper left flap  20  and the lower right flap  28 . Similarly, the “8” can be made into a “0” ( FIG. 2 ) simply by closing the center flap  24 , hiding that white segment. The “8” can be made into a “9” simply by closing the lower left flap  26  and the bottom flap  30 , as shown in  FIG. 11 . 
         [0020]    The remaining digits, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 can be formed as shown in the drawings. 
         [0021]    Although VELCRO is preferred for the device as described above, other forms of retention can be used, such as snaps or releasable/reusable adhesives, or a weak liquid bond or even static or magnetic attraction (small magnets held in or on fabric). Note also that while the display segments herein are described as white, they could be black or another color contrasting with the jersey in the event that the jersey, and thus the base areas of the digit-forming device, is white or another color. 
         [0022]    The above described preferred embodiments are intended to illustrate the principles of the invention, but not to limit its scope. Other embodiments and variations to these preferred embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art and may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.