Sport cap and method for its production

A sport cap (10) has a visor (16) made of thick-walled neoprene foam rubber. The pattern of the visor (16) is approximately crescent-shaped and has an arched inner edge (24), which is sewed to the head-band (14) in straight stretched form. When in a used position the visor (16) has a middle convex curvature section (32) and two lateral adjacent concave curvature sections (34), whereby there is a uniform transition between each of the curvature sections. Due to this multiple curvature of the visor (16), the visor has a form stability when in use but is at the same time soft and pliable. The cap (10) with visor (16) can be transported while crushed together in any form desired. The visor (16) will always return to its original form once the cap is placed on the head.

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The invention refers to a sport cap consisting of a cap preferably made up 
of several textile segments which have been sewn together, a head-band 
which is essentially inelastic and has a loose upper edge and a lower edge 
as well as a visor whereby the inner edge of the visor is sewn between the 
edge of the cap and the bottom edge of the head-band. 
Sport caps of this type are known as so-called visor caps. The visor is 
made of a stiff elastic pliable thin material which is usually synthetic 
and has a thickness of less than 1.0 mm. There are also visors made of 
cardboard which are then covered with cap material. If the visor of 
well-known sport caps is to have a good form stability, the stiffness is 
so great that it has only limited pliability. In a situation of impact 
stress the visor will bend or even break. In sport games involving balls 
these types of caps can even cause head injuries. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is the task of this invention to design a cap as described in the 
beginning paragraph which has a good form stability when in use, i.e. when 
positioned on the head, but which can be folded tightly together in the 
smallest size possible without any damaging effects to the visor once the 
cap is unfolded and used the next time. 
This task has been solved in that the basic invention idea is to design a 
visor made of a plate-shaped, elastic deformable foam rubber pattern with 
a thickness of at least 3 mm, that the visor with the joining cap part and 
head-band can be laid out flat in an unburdened condition, whereby 
wrinkles (folds) are formed on the cap part and the head-band which run 
essentially perpendicular to both head-band edges and spread out 
gusset-like from the upper to lower edge of the head-band. And that the 
visor has an approximate crescent-shape when in a flat position and its 
inner edge is curved to an arched form whereby the curvature is greatest 
in the middle range gradually minimizing towards the end of the inner 
edge. 
A further design of the invention is that the inner edge of the visor has 
at least an approximate parabolic form. 
An especially advantageous characteristic of this invention lies in the 
fact that when seen from the front, with the head-band straightened out, 
the visor forms, top-side, a middle convex curvature section and two 
laterally joining concave curvature sections. The convex curvature section 
preferentially converges uniformly into the concave curvature section. 
Based on the invention the visor is cut out or punched out of a normal 
neoprene foam rubber plate. The visor pattern is crushable any random 
number of times and always returns to its original smooth form without 
leaving any traces of fold or wrinkle marks. Once the cap is placed on the 
head, as seen from the top, the central visor range gets a convex 
curvature, in such a way that the front edge of the visor is curved to an 
arch form. 
This gives the visor a sufficiently high form stability but it remains 
pliably elastic so that at impact or hitting against a resistance it can 
flip up or downwardly without causing any injury to the head of the 
wearer. This is of essential importance when a sport ball hits the cap. 
Once the stress impact on the visor ceases, the visor springs back to its 
arched original position. Especially advantageous for the form stability 
of the visor is when on both sides of the convex middle curvature section 
a concave curvature section each is joined. By doing this a double arch of 
the visor is created which increases the form stability. Both of the 
lateral concave curvature sections have less of a curvature than the 
middle convex curvature section and the side edges of the visor run out to 
the inner edge of the visor almost in a straight line. 
Although the visor as described in the invention can have an especially 
long length, i.e. stretching out a long distance from the front of the 
head, it cannot collapse due to its curvature. The sport cap can be 
crunched together into a very small package-size and put into a trouser 
pocket for example without leaving any folds or creases when the cap is 
placed on the head. The form stability of the cap is practically unlimited 
when on the head. The neoprene foam rubber material also has the advantage 
of being absolutely water resistant making it especially suitable for all 
types of outdoor sports. 
The procedure for manufacturing based on the invention description consists 
of punching or cutting out of a roughly crescent-shaped visor from a 
neoprene foam rubber plate of at least approximately 3 mm thick and the 
sewing on of the inner edge of the visor between the edge of the cap and 
the head-band. While sewing the visor, it is especially important that the 
inner edge, at least in certain spots, is stretched out straight when 
wavy-type deformation of its outer edge appear. 
Preferably the sewing-on procedure should be done in two steps, whereby the 
sewing should be started in the middle and the first half, up to the end 
of the inner edge of the visor, is sewed on to the head-band. Then 
afterwards the other half is sewn on the same way starting from the middle 
point. 
The cap form is not important for the invention based cap. The head-band is 
preferably designed as a closed ring whose circumference can be fitted to 
individual head sizes, however the head-band could also have a spring clip 
insert. Preferably the cap is made of a number of material segments put 
together, although this is not absolutely required. 
The cap could shrink to a thin top strip which is stretched across the head 
from one side of the head-band to the other. But even without this top 
strip the visor can be easily used, e.g. simply with a head-band.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
A sport cap consists of a cap 12 with inward layed head-band 14 and a visor 
16. At first observation the visor 16 is made of a crescent-shaped 
neoprene foam rubber of about 5 mm thickness and has a slightly curved 
front edge 18, almost straight or slightly convex curved side edges 20 as 
well as an arched form transition section 22, each between the front edge 
18 and the side edge 20. The inner edge of the visor 16 is shown as 24. 
The length of the visor 16 at its middle width between front edge 18 and 
inner edge 24 is at least double as large as the length of this side edge 
20. The inner edge 24 of the visor 16 is sewed on between the lower edge 
of the cap 12 and the bottom edge 44 of the head-band 14. 
The inner edge 24 of the visor 16 is approximately parabolic in form in 
flat layed out condition, i.e. the inner edge 24 has its greatest 
curvature at the vertex and this curvature gradually minimizes as it 
approaches both ends of the inner edge 24. When sewing the inner edge 24 
to the head-band 14 and preferably to the cap 12 at the same time the 
inner edge is stretched out, i.e. pulled straight and sewed on to the 
head-band 14 which has also been pulled straight. The visor 16 take on the 
forms as shown in FIG. 6-9, whereby, as seen from the top, a middle heavy 
convex arched curvature section 26 and heavy concave arched curvature 
sections 28 adjacent to each side are created. 
The middle curvature section 26 has a straight lined contour 30 in the side 
view. (FIG. 8) The stretching out of the inner edge 24, i.e. the 
straightening of this during sewing on of the visor 16, is essential for 
the form stability of the visor 16 in its later usage function. 
If the cap is stretched in its longitudinal direction the visor 16 takes on 
a form of almost simple curvature. i.e. cuts laid parallel to inner edge 
24 have contours which can almost be called drop-shaped forms. Cuts laid 
out perpendicular run almost in a straight line. Only towards the ends of 
the side edges are there slight inward curvatures of the outer edges of 
the visor 16. 
In the usage position of the cap 10 the visor 16 takes on a form which lies 
between that of the longitudinal stretch and the cross stretch of the cap. 
The inner edge 24 is pulled evenly in radial direction, by which the visor 
16 gets a middle convex curvature section 32, whose curvature radius is 
larger than that of the curvature 26 when cross stretching of the inner 
edge 24. The front edge 18 of the visor in this curvature section 30 has 
an arch-form with almost constant curvature. 
On both sides of the middle curvature section 32 a slightly concave arched 
curvature section 34 is joined which in its curvature is much less 
pronounced than the lateral curvature section 28 in the cross stretched 
form of the inner edge 24. The curvature sections 32,34 converge 
completely uniformly into one another. This combination of heavy front 
convex curvature in connection with a weaker lateral concave curvature 
leads to an extreme form stability of the visor 16 when the cap is being 
worn on the head. The form of the visor 16 is renewed each time it is put 
on and does not lose its form at any time during the duration of usage. 
The cap 10 with its visor 16 can be packed tightly together, e.g. rolled, 
folded, and crushed uncontrollably and can remain in this condition for 
any amount of time and the visor 16 will still take on its smooth curved 
form once the cap 10 is placed on the head again. The appearance and the 
function of the cap remain unchanged. 
To adjust the head size the head-band 14 is divided in the back and has 2 
belt-like attachment ends 36,38 which have holes and/or anchor pins. 
The pattern of the visor 16 made of neoprene material has a slightly curved 
front edge 18 and almost straight side edges 20 whereby the visor width 
measured between the side edges gets somewhat smaller towards the front 
edge 18. The arched radius of the transition arch 22 is smaller than that 
of the front edge 18. 
The head-band 14 has a loose upper edge 42 and a bottom edge 44 which has 
been sewn to the inner edge 24 of the visor 16. Folds are formed between 
edges 42 and 44 whereby the straight-lined sewed inner edge 24 of the 
visor 16 results in these folds spreading out like gussets from bottom 
edge 44 to upper edge 42. In stretched out condition of the inner edge 24 
the head-band 14 the head-band will flow free of folds. These folds 46 
which are caused by the elastic initial stress of the visor 16 also appear 
when the head-band 14 is raised somewhat perpendicular from the flat-lying 
visor 16. These folds disappear, however, when the cap 10 is placed on the 
head because the upper edge 42 is stretched which leads to the multiple 
curvature form of the visor 16. As shown in FIG. 4, in a stress-free, 
off-head position for the sport cap, the head-band 14 has folds 46 which 
extend from the lower edge 44 thereof, to the upper edge 42 thereof, and 
the visor or peak 16 is substantially flat.