Abstract:
An arm-supporting and hand-warming multipurpose pillow system having a pocket defined between an outer surface of the main pillow body and an inner surface of a panel covering at least a portion of the main pillow body.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates generally to multipurpose body pillows. In a further aspect, the invention concerns a generally C-shaped pillow which can be wrapped around a human torso and used to keep the hands of the human warm while supporting the arms of the human. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     Many adults or adolescents participate in activities which make it desirable to support certain objects or body parts. For example, with activities such as reading, typing, breast feeding, and alike, it is often desired to support the arms or elbows. A variety of conventional C-shaped multipurpose pillows are available for performing the supporting functions described above. However, in certain instances, it is desirable not only to support the arms of the human donning the pillow, but also to keep the hands of the human warm. This is especially true in outdoor activities such as hunting. 
     Certain types of hunting activities (e.g., deer hunting and turkey hunting) may require the hunter to remain virtually motionless for long periods of time. During these motionless periods of time, the hunter must remain in a position which allows him or her to rapidly transition into a firing position with minimal movement. Therefore, it is desirable to support the hunter&#39;s arms, and perhaps even the hunter&#39;s weapon, in a resting position which minimizes body fatigue and keeps the hunter&#39;s arms and weapon close to the firing position. One disadvantage of hunting in cold weather is that gloves must be worn on the hunter&#39;s hands. Typically, these gloves are too cumbersome to remain on the hunter&#39;s hands when firing the weapon. Thus, the hunter must take extra time and make extra movements to remove the gloves when transitioning from the resting position to the firing position. This extra time and motion of removing the gloves may startle the animal and/or allow it to escape. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a multipurpose support pillow which can simultaneously support the arms of a human while keeping the hands of the human warm. 
     Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, claims, and drawing figures. 
     Accordingly, in one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a hand-warming pillow comprising a generally C-shaped main pillow body and a panel coupled to the main pillow body. The main pillow body presents an outer surface. A pocket portion of the outer surface is covered by the panel. The panel and pocket portion define a hand-warming pocket therebetween. The hand-warming pocket is sized to receive human hands therein. 
     In another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a handwarming pillow comprising a generally C-shaped main pillow body, a fastener, a panel, and a hand-warming pocket. The main pillow body has first and second terminal body ends. The main pillow body presents an outer body surface including a normally upper portion and a normally lower portion. The fastener is operable to releasably couple the terminal body ends to one another. The panel presents wide and narrow opposite panel ends and a pair of tapered opposite panel sides. The panel ends are coupled to the main body pillow and the panel sides are detached from the main body pillow. The panel covers a pocket portion of the upper half of the outer body surface. The hand-warming pocket is defined between the panel and the pocket portion of the outer body surface. 
     In a further embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of supporting a pair of human arms and warming a corresponding pair of human hands. The method comprises the steps of: (a) wrapping a generally C-shaped pillow around the torso of a human; (b) resting the pair of human arms on the pillow; and (c) inserting the pair of human hands into a hand-warming pocket of the pillow. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a multipurpose pillow constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention, particularly illustrating the manner in which the pillow can be used to support the arms of a human while keeping the human&#39;s hands warm; 
     FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the multipurpose pillow, particularly illustrating the terminal ends of the pillow body being coupled together by a fastener; 
     FIG. 3 is a top view of the multipurpose pillow illustrated in FIG. 2, particularly illustrating the terminal ends of the pillow body in a decoupled position; and 
     FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of the multipurpose pillow taken along line  4 — 4  in FIG. 3, particularly illustrating the construction of the main pillow body, the panel, and the hand-warming pocket defined between the outer surface of the main pillow body and the inner surface of the panel. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Referring initially to FIGS. 2 and 3, a multipurpose pillow  10  is illustrated as generally comprising a main pillow body  12 , a panel  14 , and a fastener  16 . 
     Referring now to FIGS. 1-4, main pillow body  12  has a generally C-shaped configuration and presents first and second terminal body ends  18 ,  20 . Main pillow body  12  has a thick center portion located proximate panel  14  and tapers narrower toward first and second terminal body ends  18 ,  20 . As perhaps best shown in FIG. 4, main pillow body  12  comprises an outer shell  22  filled with a cushioning material  24 . Preferably, outer shell  22  is formed of a durable, flexible fabric such as, for example, cotton, polyester, or another pliant conforming fabric. When the intended use for pillow  10  is hunting, outer shell  22  can have a camouflage pattern. Preferably, cushioning material  24  is a highly resilient, lightweight filler material such as, for example, foam rubber. Main pillow body  12  presents an outer body surface  25  which is divided into a normally upper portion  26  and a normally lower portion  28  by a seam  30  which couples the upper and lower halves of outer shell  22  to one another. Main pillow body  12  can be constructed in accordance with the support pillow described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,906 granted to Michelle M. Fanto-Chan on May 28, 1996 (assigned of record to the assignee of the present invention), the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     Referring again to FIGS. 2 and 4, panel  14  is coupled to main pillow body  12  and covers a pocket portion  32  of outer body surface  25 . Panel  14  preferably comprises a flexible outer layer  34  and a plush inner layer  36 . Outer layer is preferably formed of the same type of durable fabric employed for outer shell  22  of main pillow body  12 . Plush inner layer  36  is preferably a soft, insulating material such as, for example, wool, animal fur, or a synthetic animal fur. 
     Referring to FIGS. 2-4, panel  14  preferably has a generally trapezoidal shape and presents a wide panel end  38 , a narrow panel end  40 , and a pair of tapered panel sides  42 ,  44  which converge toward one another between the wide and narrow panel ends  38 ,  40 . Panel ends  38 ,  40  are coupled to main pillow body  12  on generally opposite sides of main pillow body  12  proximate seam  30 . Panel sides  42 ,  44  are at least substantially detached from main pillow body  12 . Panel  14  and pocket portion  32  of outer body surface  25  cooperate to define a hand-warming pocket  46  therebetween. Pocket  46  is sized to receive a pair of human hands. Pocket  46  preferably includes two spaced-apart open ends each positioned proximate a respective detached panel side  42 ,  44 . Thus, as perhaps best shown in FIG. 1, each human hand can be inserted into and removed from pocket  46  through its own respective opening. 
     Referring to FIGS. 2-4, in order to properly receive a pair of human hands, pocket  46  must have the proper shape and size. Because pocket  46  is defined by panel  14  and outer body surface  25 , the shape and size of pocket  46  is substantially controlled by the relative shape and size of panel  14  and outer body surface  25 . In order to provide pocket  46  with a suitable length, the mean (i.e., average) distance between panel sides  42  and  44  (measured substantially parallel to the direction of extension of ends  38 ,  40 ) is in the range of from about 6 inches to about 30 inches, more preferably in the range of from about 10 inches to about 24 inches, and most preferably in the range of from 12 to 18 inches. Accordingly, wide panel end  38  preferably has a length in the range of from about 8 inches to about 36 inches, more preferably in the range of from about 14 inches to about 32 inches, and most preferably in the range of from 20 to 28 inches. Narrow panel end  40  preferably has a length in the range of from about 2 to about 24 inches, more preferably in the range of from 4 to 16 inches. In order to provide pocket  46  with a suitable width, the mean (i.e., average) distance between wide panel end  38  and narrow panel end  40  (measured substantially perpendicular to the direction of extension of ends  38 ,  40 ) is in the range of from about 4 inches to about 30 inches, more preferably in the range of from about 6 inches to about 24 inches, and most preferably in the range of from 8 inches to 16 inches. Accordingly, tapered panel sides  42  and  44  each have a length in the range of from about 4 inches to about 24 inches, more preferably in the range of from about 6 inches to about 18 inches, and most preferably in the range of from 8 to 16 inches. All of the above measurements defining the shape and size of panel  14  describe panel  14  in a substantially flat position, not necessarily in the curved configuration illustrated in the drawing figures when panel  14  is coupled to main pillow body  12 . 
     In order to provide pocket  46  with a suitably sized gap between panel  14  and outer body surface  25 , it is preferred for an inner panel surface  48  of panel  14  to have a greater surface area than the surface area of pocket portion  32  of outer body surface  25 . When the surface area of inner panel surface  48  is greater than the surface area of pocket portion  32 , a gap is created therebetween, with the gap defining at least a portion of hand-warming pocket  46 . Preferably, the surface area of inner panel surface  48  is in the range of from about 5 percent to about 50 percent greater than the surface area of pocket portion  32 , more preferably the surface area of inner panel surface  48  is in the range of from about 10 percent to about 40 percent greater than the surface area of pocket portion  32 , and most preferably the surface area of inner panel surface  48  is in the range of from 15 percent to 30 percent greater than the surface area of pocket portion  32 . Another way to ensure that pocket  46  is appropriately sized relative to main pillow body  12  is to ensure that panel  14  covers an appropriate portion of normally upper portion  26  of outer body surface  25 . Preferably, panel portion  14  covers in the range of from about 20 percent to about 80 percent of normally upper portion  26  of outer body surface  25 , more preferably panel  14  covers in the range of from 30 percent to 60 percent of normally upper portion  26  of outer body surface  25 . Panel  14  preferably covers substantially none of normally lower portion  28  of outer body surface  25 . 
     Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, fastener  16  generally comprises a loop member  50  coupled to first terminal body end  18  and a button member  52  coupled to second terminal body end  20 . When fastener  16  is in a decoupled position (shown in FIG.  3 ), terminal body ends  18 ,  20  can be shifted away from one another so that pillow  10  can be wrapped around the torso of a human. Once wrapped around the torso of a human, fastener  16  can be shifted into a coupled position (shown in FIG. 2) to thereby releasably couple terminal body ends  18 ,  20  to one another and secure pillow  10  around the human torso. When fastener  16  is in the coupled position, a torso opening  54  (best shown in FIG. 3) is defined by and extends through main pillow body  12 . Torso opening  54  is preferably sized to receive the torso of a human. To ensure that a human torso can be adequately received in torso opening  54  when fastener  16  is in the coupled position, an outer perimeter  56  of torso opening  54  is preferably in the range of from about 24 inches to about 60 inches, more preferably in the range of from about 28 inches to about 48 inches, and most preferably in the range of from 32 inches to 40 inches. Narrow panel end  40  is coupled to main pillow body  12  proximate outer perimeter  56  of torso opening  54 , while wide panel end  38  is coupled to an opposite side of main pillow body  12  proximate an outer perimeter  58  of main pillow body  12 . 
     Referring to FIGS. 1-4, in operation, pillow  10  can be used to support a pair of human arms and warm a corresponding pair of human hands by wrapping main pillow body  12  around a human torso and then coupling terminal body ends  18  and  20  to one another by inserting button member  52  through loop member  50  of fastener  16 . Once pillow  10  is secured around the torso of the human, the human&#39;s arms can be rested on normally upper portion  26  of outer body surface  25  of main pillow body  12 . Prior to, or during, the resting of the human arms on main pillow body  12 , corresponding human hands can be inserted into hand-warming pocket  46 . Because hand-warming pocket  46  extends continuously between its open ends proximate panel sides  42  and  44 , once the human hands are received in hand-warming pocket  46 , the human hands can directly contact one another to thereby further facilitate warming of the hands. 
     The preferred forms of the invention described above are to be used as illustration only, and should not be used in a limiting sense to interpret the scope of the present invention. Obvious modifications to the exemplary embodiments, set forth above, could be readily made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. 
     The inventor hereby states her intent to rely on the Doctrine of Equivalents to determine and assess the reasonably fair scope of the present invention as pertains to any apparatus not materially departing from but outside the literal scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.