CONCEALED ATTACHING CLIP FOR HEADWEAR

Abstract: This invention relates to the headwear art and more particularly to a concealed method of attaching headwear to a person's head. The invention enables the wearer of a yarmulke, beanie, or other cap to secure the headwear to a person's hair without the necessity of using a clip which would show on the outer surface of the decorative or other headwear. The clip includes a covering (1) which is secured to a tensioned clip (2). The top of the covering (14) has a hook fastener (3) secured to it. A pile fastener (11) is secured to the inside of the yarmulke, beanie or other cap. In order to secure the headwear to a person's head, one simply attaches the lower metal clip (2) to a person's hair and secures the hook and pile fasteners together. The clip is readily concealable, lightweight, easy to use, and does not in anyway damage the often expensive outside surfaces of a yarmulke, beanie or other cap. The main problem in the prior art is that clips for attaching headwear to a person's head would show on the outside surface of the often-expensive headwear. This clip solves that problem by using a hook and pile fastener to attach the headwear to a person's head on the underneath side of a yarmulke, beanie or cap. The clip device is thus completely concealed underneath the headwear. This device would be principally used in the headwear industry and may be exploited commercially either as a separate attachment for existing headwear or as an accessory sold along with the headwear in the original purchase.

Description: CONCEALED ATTACHING CLIP FOR HEADWEAR I. TECHNICAL FIELD This invention pertains to the technical field involving headwear and methods of securely attaching removable headwear to the head. More particularly, the technical field encompasses removable headwear pieces such as a yarmulke, beanies, caps or other headwear. The method for attaching the headwear to the hair utilizes a small fastener which is clipped to the hair, which in turn is removably attached to the headwear. II. BACKGROUND ART Hatpins, straps, and other devices have been known throughout the headwear field for attaching or securing the headwear to a person's head. A hatpin is a straight pin which is stuck through the hat and wearer's hair and secures the hat to the head. Straps have also been known to be used in this field. Straps are attached to each side of the hat or helmet and tied underneath the chin. This is another method of securing headwear to a person's head. Other devices have been developed to secure headwear or other articles to a person's head. For example, the 1994 patent issued to Anzivino, U.S. Patent #5,303,724, discloses a barrette anchorage member for a head cover, such as a partial wig. The Anzivino device uses a barrette anchorage member folded over fabric which is in turn stitched to the wig support. The barrette is exposed to view once it is in place. Anzivino also describes an ornamental figure which may be attached to the outside of the barrette to cover its general appearance. While Arzivino is of general interest in the field, it is not concealable or removable , and it is designed for a much heavier application than the instant device. When the wearer of headwear desires the headwear to be secured to the head without it being in obvious view, the barrette type of anchorage, as depicted in Anzivino will not suffice. It is an object of this invention to supply a means for securing a yarmulke, beanie or other type of cap to a wearer's head where such device is completely concealed from view. Particularly with respect to very small or thin headwear such as a yarmulke or a beanie, the small or thin headwear will not allow the use of a large barrette, bulky clip, hatpin, strap or other securing means. The small size of the yarmulke or beanie would require a very small securing device. It is another object of this invention to provide a very small and highly concealable clip to attach a very small or thin yarmulke, beanie or other similar headwear to a person's head. It is common practice to secure a yarmulke or beanie to a person's head by the use of U-shaped tension hairpins. However, these hairpins have the drawback that they may damage the yarmulke or beanie and also necessarily require half of the hairpin to be exposed on the outside of the cap, thus revealing the presence of the securing means. Further, the yarmulke or beanies are often highly decorated and the use of straight pins, hairpins, or other securing means may often damage the highly decorated and expensive outside portion of the yarmulke or beanie. It is a still further object of this invention to provide a lightweight, small, fully concealed securing means for a yarmulke or beanie which does not come into contact with the decorated outside of the yarmulke or beanie and which will not damage the outside of the headwear in any way. Also of particular note are the United States Patents issued to Sowell and Lawrence. The Sowell patent, issued in 1999, is for a barrette with a system of modularized ornamental appendages for decorating hair. Sowell discloses a barrette device (Figure 3) comprising a clip and a prong for securing the barrette to a person's hair. Sowell also comprises an adhesive outer surface (6) attached and a second adhesive surface (10) attached to the inside of a decorative or ornamental appendage (8) which covers the entire upper surface of the clip. The Sowell patent was issued by the United States Patent Office and has a United States Patent Office Number of 5,857,465. The 1990 United States Patent issued to Lawrence. U.S. Patent # 4,896,685, is for a baby bow hair fastener. Lawrence discloses a device for securing a decorative adornment (14) comprising a clip (18) having an upper and lower surface and a prong (24) connected to the lower surface for securing the clip to a person's head, The decorative adornment is permanently attached to the clip. Sowell and Lawrence are to be distinguished from the instant device as set out in the Claims of this invention. The instant device has a clip with a broad end and a narrow toe end and a tension prong for securing the clip to the person's hair. The clip also has a covering attached to the clip. Hook and pile fasteners are then used to attach the cap or other headgear to the clip on the inside of the cap or headgear. The instant device is detachable and may be used on a number of different pieces of headwear. III. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION In many instances the cap or other headwear to be attached to the head is decorative and often expensive. It is undesirable to have a clip showing on the outer surface of the headwear. The exposed clip would diminish the decorative features of the headwear. In the past, other conventional methods of attaching the headwear to the hair would leave such an exposed feature. The instant device attaches the headwear to the hair but the attaching device is located entirely on the underside of the cap. Utilizing this particular device, headwear may be attached to hair without in any way diminishing the outer surface and decorative appeal of the headwear so attached. In addition, the instant device is detachable both from the cap and from the hair, and thus may be used on a number of separate devices, provided each device has an attaching hook and pile fastener on the inner surface of the headwear. This device comprises a small cloth covering for a metal-type clip. The cloth covering has a large rounded head pocket and a smaller rounded toe pocket. The covering has a body which will cover the upper portion of a metal clip. The covering is secured to the head and toe of the metal clip by use of the covering pockets. The head portion of the covering also has a hook fastener attached. When a rounded pile attaching fastener is attached to the inside of the yarmulke or beanie, the clip and covering may be secured to the inside surface of the yarmulke. The clip device is small, lightweight and fully concealed and does not touch the outer, often more expensive, surface of the yarmulke or beanie. IV. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES Figure 1 is a perspective view of the covering of the metal clip. Figure 2 is a perspective exploded view of the covering and the metal clip, showing their relationship to each other. Figure 3 is a depiction of the person's head with the yarmulke or beanie attached by the clip device. Figure 4 is a side view of the yarmulke or beanie with the clip device attached to the underside of the headwear. V. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A cloth covering (1) is produced generally in the shape of the top portion of a metal clip (2). The cloth covering (1) has a toe pocket (4) and a head pocket (5) as shown on Figure 1 adapted to receive the toe (6') of the metal clip and the head (6) of the metal clip, as shown of Figure 2. The cloth covering (1) has the general shape of the upper metal clip body (7) such that the cloth covering (1) will completely cover the upper surface of the metal clip that would otherwise be in contact with the inner surface of the yarmulke or beanie. The bottom surface (12) of the covering (1) is shown in Figure 1. This surface (12) is placed against the upper metal surface (13) shown in Figure 2. The cloth covering embodiment shown in Figures 1 and 2 is fastened to the upper metal clip by placing the toe and heel of the clip into the toe and heel pockets, respectively, of the covering. Attached to the head end of the cloth covering (1) is a rounded hook fastener. This fastener is secured on the upper side (14) of the covering opposite the head pocket (5) side, as shown on Figures 1 and 2. When the cloth covering (1) is attached to the metal clip (2), the soft cloth surface (14) and the rounded hook head fastener (3) face upwards, as best shown in Figure 2. This concealed clip device (10) is intended to concealably fasten a cap such as a yarmulke (8) or beanie. The yarmulke (8) is designed to be fastened to the head (9) of a person, using the clip prong (15) and the person's hair. The device (10) as shown and applied to a yarmulke or beanie is shown in position on Figure 3. Turning to Figure 4, a side view of the device, shown in its attached and concealed position, is illustrated. The concealed attaching clip (10) is placed as shown in Figure 4 with the rounded hook head fastener (3) facing towards the inner surface of the yarmulke. Attached inside the yarmulke is a rounded attaching pile fastener (11). This rounded pile fastener may be attached to the inside the yarmulke (8) by use of adhesives or by sewing. The concealed clip device (10) is easily and readily attached to a person's hair. The snapping method of attaching the clip prong (15) to a person's hair is well known in the art. Since the prong is tensioned, it readily closes to attach to hair. The device as shown in Figures 1 through 4 is lightweight, soft, readily concealable and readily detachable. When the yarmulke or beanie needs to be washed, the concealed clip device (10) may be removed. In addition, only one such cloth covering and metal clip combination would be required for any number of caps since each cap need only have the rounded attaching pile fastener (11) attached to the inside of the cap. The fastener described herein is completely concealable. In addition, because it is made of a cloth covering, it would be comfortable to wear against a person's head. Since the fastener itself is applied only to the inside of the yarmulke or beanie, it will not damage the outer, often expensive and decorated, surface of the headwear. While this device is designed especially for small beanies or yarmulkes, it could be readily applied to other types of headwear, including caps, hats, or any other type of ornamental or useful device to be attached to the head. Obviously, the precise kind of clip disclosed herein is meant as a means of illustration of the preferred embodiment only, and not as a limitation. Other types of clips could be utilized in practicing this invention while still keeping within the spirit and disclosure of the invention herein. In addition, although hook and pile fasteners are preferred, other types of fasteners could be used such as snaps, or buttons and holes. Further, the covering (1) may be made of cloth, soft vinyl plastic or other material. The means of attaching the covering to the metal clip is preferred, but the covering may be attached to the clip by other means, such as adhesives. These variations from the preferred embodiment are within the spirit and scope of the disclosure herein. VI. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY This invention is most advantageously utilized in the headwear field. Whether the headwear is a yarmulke, a cap, a hat, or some other type of head covering, this clip can be used to attach the covering to the head. A most important advantage of this device is that it is entirely concealed by the headwear and does not diminish the decorative effect of the headwear attached to the hair. In addition, this device is easily detachable from the headwear itself, and may be utilized on a number of separate headwear pieces, as long as the headwear pieces have the appropriate hook and pile fastener attached to the inner surface of the headwear. This device pertains to the industry of clothing, and more particularly to the industry of headwear as described above. This invention is capable of exploitation in the headwear industry and can be sold as a separate unit to be attached to existing headwear or as an optional attachment to headwear that is being sold commercially.

Claims: CLAIM Claim: In the prior art of headwear attachment, a device securing headwear to a person's head characterized by: (1) a metal clip (2) having an upper surface (13) and a lower surface, said clip having a broad head end (6) and a narrow toe end (6'), said lower surface having a prong (15) which may be tensioned to secure said clip to a person's hair; (2) a covering (1) having a broad head pocket (5) and a narrow toe pocket (4) shaped coincidentally to the shape of said metal clip, wherein said covering (1) is attached to said clip by placing the head (6) and toe (6') of said clip into the corresponding head (5) and toe (4) pockets of said covering; (3) a hook fastener (3) attached to the upper surface (14) of said covering; and (4) a corresponding pile fastener attached to the inside of said headwear; whereby headwear may be detachably secured to a person's head by said device.

Inventors: HEBENSTREIT MARILYN K, HEBENSTREIT, MARILYN, K.
Applicants: HEBENSTREIT MARILYN K, HEBENSTREIT, MARILYN, K.
Application year: 2000
Main classification: A45D8
IPC codes: A41G3, A41G5, A42B7