Abstract:
A liner system for a flame resistant coat includes a thermal barrier and a moisture barrier, the upper portion of the thermal barrier being detachably connected to the inner part of the collar of the coat, while the upper portion of the moisture barrier is detachably connected to the outer part of the collar. The upper portions of the thermal barrier and moisture barrier are free of one another; and the upper portion of the moisture barrier extends into the collar a substantial distance above the upper edge portion of the thermal barrier when the collar is in vertical position.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to a liner system incorporated into a flame resistant coat as used by firefighters as well as rescue and emergency services personnel. Such coats include an outer shell having a body portion, sleeve portions and a collar portion. It is necessary to ensure that water-tight integrity is maintained at the juncture of the outer shell and the collar portion thereof to prevent the personnel using the coat from getting wet when fighting fires where large amounts of water may splash onto the coat.  
         [0002]     The liner system includes an outer moisture barrier and an inner thermal barrier which are conventionally stitched together such that they cannot be readily separated from one another when one of the barriers is damaged and needs to be replaced. As a result, when one of the barriers is damaged, the entire liner may be thrown away. Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a construction wherein the two barriers may be readily detached from one another to replace one of the barriers with a new one which in turn can be readily attached to the other original barrier.  
         [0003]     When the liner system is wet, either from use in a fire environment or from being laundered, it is necessary to thoroughly dry the liner, and accordingly another object of the invention is to provide an arrangement which allows air to circulate between the barriers in a superior manner to reduce drying time.  
         [0004]     When the liner is removed from the coat to launder the liner, it is desirable to prevent contaminates from entering the space between the barriers and to protect the moisture barrier substrate from abrasion as a result of coming into contact the hooks on the fastening portion carried by the moisture barrier.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     The invention coat includes a flame resistant shell forming a body portion having sleeve portions and a collar potion. The collar portion has an inner collar part facing the neck of a person wearing the coat when the collar is in an upright position. The collar portion also includes an opposite outer collar part. The liner comprises a thermal barrier and a moisture barrier. Hook and loop structures detachably connect the upper portion of the thermal barrier to the inner collar part and detachably connect the upper portion of the moisture barrier to the outer collar part. The moisture barrier extends a substantial distance above the moisture barrier when the collar is in a vertical position.  
         [0006]     The upper portions of the thermal barrier and the moisture barrier are free of one another. The opposite side portions of the two barriers are detachably connected to one another aby snap fasteners at spaced points along the length thereof, and the side portions of the thermal barrier are detachably connected by snap fasteners to the body portion of the coat. The lower portions of the thermal barrier and the moisture barrier are stitched to one another along a part of the lower portions by a single line os stitching which may be readily manually removed to separate the two barriers from one another along their lower portions. The lower portions of the thermal barrier and the moisture barrier are also detachably connected to one another at spaced points along another part of the lower portions. The lower portions of the barriers are free of the body portion of the coat.  
         [0007]     With this arrangement, the two barriers may be separated from one another to provide separate entities except for the stitched connection at the outer ends of the sleeves of the barriers to one another and to associated wristers. This last-mentioned stitched connection can be removed by conventional machines. In this way, either of the barriers which may be damaged may be disconnected from the other and replaced with a new barrier, whereupon the new and old barriers may be connected to one another and cooperating wristers.  
         [0008]     The spacing defined between the upper portions of the barriers as well as the open areas between the spaced points at which the side portions and lower portions of the barriers are detachably connected enables air to circulate between the two barriers when drying after use or after laundering, thereby reducing the drying time.  
         [0009]     The fastening means on the upper portions of the two barriers comprise hooks on the moisture barrier which can engage loops on the thermal barrier after the liner is removed from the coat in preparation for laundering the liner. When the upper portions of the barriers are so connected the entry of contaminates between the barriers is prevented, and the hook portions are prevented from contacting the moisture barrier substrate and causing abrasion thereof. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a front view of a coat according to the invention in opened position with the collar partly broken away and one facing of the coat folded over to show details of construction, and further with the two barriers of the liner folded back and separated from one another at one side of the liner;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a front view, partially broken away, of the liner of the invention with a portion folded to show the opposite side thereof;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view taken along line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view taken along line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 1 ; and  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a sectional view taken along line  5 - 5  of  FIG. 1 . 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]     Referring to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, there is shown in  FIG. 1 a  coat having a shell formed of conventional flame resistant material which comprises a body or torso portion  10  having stitched thereto a right sleeve  12  and a left sleeve  14 . A collar portion  16  is also stitched to the body portion.  
         [0016]     The body portion includes a pair of face portions  20  and  22  disposed at the opposite front edges of the body portion. A plurality of spaced conventional snap fasteners  24  are mounted on face portion  20 , and a further plurality of spaced conventional fasteners  26  are mounted on face portion  22 . These fasteners cooperate with cooperating fasteners mounted on the liner as hereinafter described.  
         [0017]     A conventional zipper part  30  is mounted on facing portion  22 , and a cooperating zipper part  32  is mounted on the inwardly facing side of facing portion  20  as can be seen in the folded over part of the facing portion. The cooperating zipper parts serve as a closure to hold the coat in closed position in the usual manner. The closure may also be of other conventional constructions such as different variations of hook and D-ring or VELCRO closures if desired. A first part  36  of a hook and loop connection such as VELCRO is mounted on a flap  38  of the body portion, and a cooperating part of the hook and loop connection (not shown) is mounted on the opposite side of facing portion  22  so that the two parts of the hook and loop connection are in contact with one another when the coat is in closed position with flap  38  disposed in overlying relationship to the opposite side of facing portion  24  to provide additional means for holding the coat in closed position and preventing the entry of water or contaminates at the front of the coat.  
         [0018]     Referring to  FIG. 3 , collar portion  16  includes an inner collar part  40  and an outer collar part  42 . The inner collar part is formed by a double layer of flame resistant material  40 ′ and  40 ″, while the outer collar part is formed by a similar double layer  42 ′ and  42 ″. The upper ends of layers  40 ′,  40 ″,  42 ′ and  42 ″ are turned over and stitched to one another by stitching  44 . The lower ends of layers  42 ′ and  42 ″ are turned over and stitched to body portion  10  by stitching  46   
         [0019]     A fastening means is indicated generally by arrow  50  and comprises means for detachably fastening an upper portion of moisture barrier  54  to the outer part of the collar portion. The fastening means is a hook and loop mechanism such as VELCRO which includes a first loop part supported on strip  60  which is mounted on the face of layer  42 ″ by stitching  62 . The second hook part of fastening means  50  is supported on strip  64  which is mounted on the face of moisture barrier  54  by stitching  66 . The moisture barrier material is conventional and comprises a breathable moisture barrier fabric having a waterproof surface facing outwardly toward the outer collar part  42 . The upper edge portion of the moisture barrier has a binding strip  70  defining a U-shaped cross-section wrapped therearound and held in position by stitching  72 .  
         [0020]     The lower ends of layers  40 ′ and  40 ″ are turned over and held in place by stitching  76 . A fastening means is indicated generally by arrow  80  and comprises means for detachably connecting the upper edge portion of thermal barrier  82  to the inner part  40  of the collar portion. This fastening means is also a hook and loop mechanism such as VELCRO which includes a first hook part supported on strip  84  which is mounted on the face of layer  40  by stitching  76 . The second loop part of fastening means  80  is supported on strip  88  which is mounted on the face of thermal barrier  80  by stitching  90 . The moisture barrier material is formed of the usual quilted thermal insulating material.  
         [0021]     Referring now to  FIGS. 1-3 , thermal barrier  82  has an upper edge portion  100 , a pair of opposite side edge portions  102  and  104  and a bottom edge portion  106 . Strip  88  extends along the length of the upper edge portion  100  and supports the hook parts  108  of fastening means  80 . Strip  84  extends along the length of the lower portion of the inner part  40  of the collar portion and supports the loop parts  110  of fastening means  80 .  
         [0022]     Moisture barrier  54  has an upper edge portion  111 , a pair of opposite side edge portions  112  and  114  and a bottom edge portion  116 . Strip  64  extends from side edge portion  112  to side edge portion  114  and is adjacent to and spaced below the upper edge portion as seen in  FIGS. 1-3 . Strip  64  supports the hook parts  120  of fastening means  50 . Strip  60  mounted on the outer part of the collar portion supports the loop parts  122  of fastening means  50 . The sleeve portions  12   a  and  14   a  of the moisture barrier are partially shown in  FIG. 2 .  
         [0023]     As seen in  FIG. 2 , 10 conventional snap fasteners  130  are mounted on thermal barrier  82  along the side edge portion  102 , and 10 similar fasteners  132  are mounted on the thermal barrier along the side edge portion  104 . As seen in  FIG. 1 , moisture barrier  54  has five snap fasteners  136  mounted thereon along the side edge portion  112 . Five more similar fasteners (not shown) are mounted on moisture barrier  54  along the opposite side edge portion  114  of the moisture barrier.  
         [0024]     The top fastener  130  on the thermal barrier connects to the top fastener  24  on facing  20  to detachably connect the thermal barrier to the body portion of the shell. The fastener below the top fastener  130  connects to the upper fastener on the side edge portion  114  of the moisture barrier to detachably connect the moisture barrier to the thermal barrier. This arrangement repeats itself with five alternate fasteners  130  being connected to the facing of the coat and another five alternate fasteners  130  being connected to the moisture barrier. A similar arrangement exists between fasteners  26  on facing  22 , fasteners  132  on the thermal barrier and fasteners  136  on the moisture barrier. In this manner, the side edge portions of the thermal barrier and the moisture barrier are detachably connected to one another, and the thermal barrier is detachably connected to the body portion of the coat.  
         [0025]     As seen in  FIG. 4 , the bottom of the body portion of the shell is turned up and secured by stitching  140  to define a lower edge portion  142 . The lower edge portion of the moisture barrier  54  has a binding strip  144  wrapped therearound and secured in position by stitching  146 . The lower edge portion of the thermal barrier  82  has a binding strip  148  wrapped therearound and secured in position by stitching  150 . A single line of stitching  154  passes through each of the layers of material to connect the lower edge portions of the barriers to one another. Line of stitching  150  can be readily manually removed when desired. Therefore, the lower edge portions of the thermal barrier and moisture barrier are stitched to one another in such a manner that they can be readily disconnected from one another. Stitching  150  connects the lower edge portions of the barriers along a central portion of the lower edge portions thereof. In a typical example, these lower edge portions may be stitched together along a length of about eighteen inches of the lower edge portions.  
         [0026]     Referring to  FIGS. 1, 2  and  5 , the lower edge portions of moisture barrier  54  and thermal barrier  82  are detachably connected to one another along the length of the lower edge portions thereof on either side of the part of the lower edge portions which are stitched to one another as discussed above. The barriers are detachably connected at opposite ends of the lower edge portions thereof by a first plurality of snap fasteners  160  mounted on the thermal barrier and a second plurality of cooperating snap fasteners  162  mounted on the moisture barrier. It is noted that there are three pairs of snap fasteners disposed at either side of the central stitched parts of the lower edge portions of the barriers.  
         [0027]     The invention has been described with reference to a preferred embodiment. Obviously, various modifications, alterations and other edbokiments will occur to others upon reading and understanding this specification. It is our intention to include all such modifications, alterations, and alternate embodiments insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalent thereof.