Abstract:
There is disclosed a garment and a holder formed on the garment in combination with an alarm or other sensible device, wherein the device is insertable into the holder through an opening which can be opened and closed by a releasable fastener, and to method of making such a combination.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]     Reference is hereby made to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/216,272 filed Aug. 9, 2002.  
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     This invention relates to the field of responsive systems including personal alarms.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     The following U.S. patents are made of record: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,717,437; 3,009,235; and 5,583,489.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004]     This invention relates to a user-friendly responsive system including a personal alarm system applied to a garment and to components thereof.  
         [0005]     According to a specific embodiment of the invention, a sheet such as a label or a patch is secured to a garment so as to provide a chamber for holding a personal alarm device or other desired sensible device. The personal alarm is a security device which can be activated by the user in the event of danger or other need. The personal alarm can give off a shrill sound when activated. There is an opening into the chamber so that the device can be inserted into or removed from the chamber. The opening has a closable and releasably fastener or fasteners to enable the device to be inserted into and removed from the chamber and yet held securely in the chamber when the fastener is closed. If desired, the device can be sealed in an envelope which is liquid impervious to prevent the device itself from being damaged if the device is left in the chamber when the garment is washed. The fastener or fasteners used to close off the chamber can be of different types, such as a hook and loop type fastener, a zipper, buttons, or the like to securely releasably hold the device in the chamber. The sheet can be a woven fabric label with various indicia, or the sheet can be constructed of different materials, and the sheet can be in different shapes such as rectangular, round, oval and so on. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAMMATIC DRAWINGS  
       [0006]      FIG. 1  is a perspective front view of a garment to which an electronically responsive or activatable device is releasably secured;  
         [0007]      FIG. 2  is an enlarged view of a fragmentary portion of the garment, of a broken-away portion of the front of the sheet and of the envelope which contains such a device.  
         [0008]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view taken generally along line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0009]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view taken generally along lines  4 - 4  of  FIG. 2 ; and  
         [0010]      FIG. 5  is a rear elevational view of the sheet of which the fastener has been secured showing the side of the sheet opposite of the side shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0011]     With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , there is shown a garment generally indicated at  10  to which a holder  11  for removably receiving an alarm or an electronically-sensible or responsive device  12 . In the case where the device  12  is an audible alarm as illustrated, a button  14  is depressed by the user to activate the device  12  and the alarm continues to sound until the button  14  is depressed again.  
         [0012]     As shown in  FIG. 5 , the holder  11  includes a sheet  11 ′ which is preferably made of fabric. A two-part fastener generally indicated at  15  is shown to comprise a strip  16  of plastics loops  17  and a strip  18  of plastics hooks  19 . Fasteners of this type are shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,717,437 and 3,009,235 and are sold under the trademark VELCRO®. One strip, for example, the strip  16  is secured preferably by sewing  21  along the upper peripheral portion  20  of the sheet. The remainder of the periphery of the sheet  11 ′ is preferably sewn to the garment  10  as indicated at  22 . The sheet  11 ′ and the garment  10  are thus secured to provide a chamber  23  for receiving the device  12 .  
         [0013]     It is preferred to enclose the device  12  in a plastics, liquid impervious envelope  24  to protect the device  12  from becoming wet, such as when the device is not removed before washing. The envelope  24  can be a tube of thin polyethylene which can be heat sealed at both ends  25  and  26 . The envelope  24  does not appreciably diminish the sound emitted by the alarm  12  when activated. If desired, the envelope  24  can be omitted.  
         [0014]     When it is desired to insert the device  12  together with its envelope  24  into the chamber  23 , the illustrated fastener  15  is opened, the device  12  and its optional envelope  24  inserted into the chamber  23 , and the fastener  15  is pressed closed. The activation button  14  is preferably positioned to face outwardly, that is, outwardly away from the garment  10 . The button  14  is preferably large enough to be readily hand-activated. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the alarm  12  is located centrally of the front of the garment  10  which is illustrated to be a shirt, although other positions for locating the sheet  11 ′ and the alarm  12  can be used. The sheet  11 ′ can have woven indicia or printed indicia  26 ′.  
         [0015]     Instead of releasably enclosing an audible alarm in the chamber  23 , an RFID device or an electronic article surveillance device can be enclosed in the chamber  23 .  
         [0016]     The method of making and using the invention is to provide a sheet  11 ′ of material such as a fabric label which may be woven with particular indicia  26 , and then securing or forming part  16  of a two-part fastener  15  to the sheet  11 ′ along part or all of the outer periphery of the sheet. If the sheet  11 ′ is rectangular as shown in the drawings, the fastener  15  can extend along one side or along part of one side of the sheet  11 ′. The other part  18  of the fastener  15  can then be sewn onto or otherwise secured to the garment  10 . The sheet  11 ′ can thereafter be sewn onto the garment  10  as shown at  22 , with the strips  16  and  18  aligned in face-to-face relationship. The holder  11  can be provided by the garment manufacturer, and the device  12  can be inserted into the chamber  23  by the garment manufacturer or the device  12  can be inserted subsequently by the retail store or by the user. To insert the device  12 , the strips  16  and  18  are separated sufficiently to allow insertion of the device  12 , and then the strips  16  and  18  are pressed together to secure the device  12  in the chamber  23 . The device  12  can be removed and reinserted, if desired. If the device  12  is an alarm, the button  14  can operate a switch preferably of the push-on, push again-off type. The alarm can be a battery operated, switch activated buzzer or the like. If desired, other fasteners such as zippers, button and buttonhole, etc. can be used.  
         [0017]     Other embodiments and modifications of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, and all such of these as come within the spirit of this invention are included within its scope as best defined by the appended claims.