Attachable Sunshade for Caps with Half Moon Shaped Opening at the Bottom of the Back of the Cap

The present invention relates to a more suitable method of temporarily affixing a sunshade to a cap with a half moon shaped opening at the bottom of the back of the cap. The sunshade generally includes a strap especially designed to provide a firm and close assembly to the cap, and a shield, which is sewed to the strap, designed to provide the necessary sun protection. The strap has a concave shape, and has three clips to secure it firmly and fixed to the cap. The shield is made of a lightweight fabric or cloth and its shape and size will varied to accommodate the sunshade design to the cap size, especially to accommodate the sunshade to caps for men, women or children.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As discussed above, embodiments of the present invention relate to the apparel industry, in particular, the present invention belongs to the field of sun protection head gear considered cap accessories. More particularly, the present invention provides a new type of sunshade that can be temporarily affixing to any size of cap with a half moon shaped opening at the bottom of the back of the cap.FIG. 1shows a side view of a typical cap1with a half moon shaped opening3at the bottom of the back of the cap1.

The sunshade generally comprise of two principal components: a strap4especially designed to provide a firm and close assembly to the cap1, and a shield10, which is sewed to the strap4, designed to provide the necessary sun protection.

An isometric projection of the strap4is shown inFIG. 2. The strap4has a concave shape determined by the curvature of the cap1formed by the line7that connects the upper point of the half moon shaped opening at the bottom of the back of the cap (the 90 degree point of the half moon) and the opposite outer points at each end of bill (line7is shown inFIG. 3andFIG. 4). The cap size will define the curvature of the strap4(the concave shape of the strap will change to accommodate to each particular cap size) and the length6of the strap4. Therefore, to design the strap4, first, the size of the cap1must be determined. Once the size of the cap1is defined, the strap4can be designed. It is important to note that the concave shape of the strap is an important feature of the strap4given it allows the strap4to have a very close and firm attachment to the cap1.

The strap4has three clips8to secure it to the cap1and create a snug fit. As illustrated inFIG. 5, one of the clips8is located at the center of the strap4, while the other two are located at each end of the strap4. The clip8located at the center of the strap4will be affixed to the cap at the top part of the half moon shaped opening3at the bottom of the back of the cap (FIG. 6). The other two clips8located at each end of the strap4will be affixed to the bill of the cap. The three clips8and the concave shape of the strap4provide a close fit to the cap once the strap4is affixed to the cap1as illustrated inFIGS. 7 and 8.

The width5of the strap4will be determined by the length9of the clips8. The strap4will have a width5equal or greater than the clips' length9. All of these measurements; the curvature, the length6and the width5define the dimensions of the strap4. The strap4can be made of different types of fabrics and the following examples are intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive. The strap4can be made of soft leather; a high denier urethane coated woven nylon; a sturdier twill fabric and a softer, thinner cotton material which is layered with the twill fabric which is then folded over the cotton and sewn together; a single or two-ply cotton twill, heavy denim or dungaree. These examples suggest many types of variations and alternatives to those skilled in this art to accommodate the fabric of the strap4to best fit the wearer's intention of application.

The clips8affixing system can be subdivided into two categories. The first category involves the use of three hidden clips8to the eye of the wearer. The clips are affixed to the interior part of the strap4, for example, as shown inFIG. 6for the center clip. The second category involves the use of clips which have some kind of ornament11that is visible to the wearer. The clips8, for the two categories, are any type of commercially available spring type clip, well known in the art, that are fitted to affix the strap4to the cap1. Those skilled in this art will determined if the three clips are the same model or they are different (for example, the three clips are all bulldog clips or one is a bulldog clip and the other two are other type of clips) to best accommodate the strap4to the cap1and to the wearer. The clips8are secured to the strap4by button snaps and/or glued or sewn to provide a firm and fixed attachment.

The second component of the sunshade is the shield10. The shield10is manufactured separately from the strap4and once finished is sewn to the strap4. The shield10shape and dimensions may be varied substantially to accommodate to the size of the cap, and the sex and age of the wearer, provided that the essential features and functions of the invention are met. The shape of the shield10can be rectangular, trapezoidal, crescent shaped or any other particular shape that those skilled on the art think it is best to met the required sunshade functions and attributes. For illustrative purposes, and not intended to be limiting, an example of a possible shape of the shield10is shown inFIG. 9. The figure illustrates an isometric projection of a trapezoidal shaped shade10. Once the shield10is finished is sewn to the strap4as is illustrated inFIG. 10which shows a perspective view of the strap4attached to the shield10.FIG. 11illustrates a perspective view of the sunshade attached to a cap on a wearer, andFIG. 12illustrates a rear perspective view of the trapezoidal shaped sunshield attached to a cap1.

The shield10can be made from a variety of patterns and fabrics. Those skilled on the art will determine the appropriate shield10fabric that is specific to the particular application. The shield10material can be of any appropriate composition of cloth, for example, cotton, polyester, blends or other natural or syntactic fabrics. For example, one option of the sunshade is to provide sun protection plus sweat control for those wearers with excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis. In this case, the shield10material can be terry cloth.

The second category of clips8affixing system include clips8that have some type of ornament11to enhance the look of the sunshade. For example,FIG. 13. illustrates a sunshade where the front two clips have a flower ornament11to make the sunshade more attractive to little girls. It must be noted that there is no limit to the type of ornament11that can be employed. The following examples are intended to be illustrative and not exhaustive. For example, types of ornaments11that can be used are: business logos, flashing ornaments & LED body lights (the invention can be used also at night as a cloth accessory), or any type of ornament that those skilled on the art think will enhanced the sunshade and make it more appealing to certain age groups.

Even though there are several advantages of having the sunshade made-up of two components (strap and shield), for example some of the advantages are: the strap and the shield can be made of different fabrics, for example, the strap can be made of a stronger fabric to provide a snug fit, while the shield of a very soft and light fabric; the strap and the shield can have different designs; or the shield can be sent to the screen-printing industry for promotional printing and further assembled to the strap (the shield by itself can withhold the high temperatures of the drying ovens that are generally used to dry the printing inks), if a less expensive sunshade is desired, an alternative design of the sunshade is to make it of only one piece of fabric as shown inFIG. 14. In this case, the strap4and the shield10are combined to form a new shield12(this shield12takes up the strap4features). The top part13of the shield12has the strap's4concave shape feature and the three clips8to secure it to the cap1and to create a snug fit. The body of the shield12maintains the attributes and features of the shield10as previously described.

Mode of Operation

To use the sunshade, a cap with a half moon shaped opening at the bottom of the back of the cap is required. The most common mode of operation will be that the user will affix the clip8located at the middle section of the strap4to the top part of the half moon shaped opening at the bottom of the back of the cap, as illustrated inFIG. 6. Next, the other two clips8located at each end of the strap4will be affixed to the bill2of the cap1. The user then can put the cap on his/her head and placed the shield10as best fits over the shoulders to provide the necessary sun protection to the nape of the neck, ears and sides of the face. If necessary, the wearer can adjust the adjustment strap in the cap1, fasten it or loosen it, to have tight fit without the need of detaching the sunshade. The invention is easily and quickly installed or removed from the cap of the wearer, and can conveniently folded, stored and carried by the wearer for future use during the day.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof; therefore, the illustrated embodiment should be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, reference being made to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.