Abstract:
An inventive headwear for securely placing eyeglasses is disclosed. The headwear can be, for example, a modified baseball cap having elastic keepers located upon the sides of the crown portion of the cap. The temples of a pair of eyeglasses are inserted into the keepers, the keepers exerting a downward pressure upon the temples to keep the eyeglasses securely positioned upon the visor of the headwear.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     The present application relies upon and seeks the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/736,136 filed on Nov. 9, 2005. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0002]     The present invention relates to headwear such as baseball caps and brimmed hats, and more specifically to headwear having a means for retaining a pair of eyeglasses thereon.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003]     Sunglasses conveniently keep sun glare out of a wearer&#39;s eyes and improve a wearer&#39;s visibility for such tasks as driving and playing sports. However, when a wearer enters a dimly lit building, or when nightfall arrives, the wearer must search for a place to put his sunglasses. It is also common for a wearer to take his sunglasses off during an activity, set them down on a convenient nearby surface, and forget about them later on. This forgetful habit leads to millions of sunglasses being lost annually and also necessitates that the absent-minded wearers continually purchase new sunglasses. This cycle of losing sunglasses and having to purchase new ones can become expensive, as many quality brands of sunglasses cost over one hundred dollars.  
         [0004]     One solution to this problem is for the wearer to place his sunglasses into a pants or shirt pocket until they are needed again, but pocket articles such as keys, or even the coarse fabric of many pants pockets can lead to scratching of sunglass lenses.  
         [0005]     Another solution is represented by inventions which place a pair of keepers for retaining a pair of sunglasses upon a headwear article, such as a baseball cap, for example. This arrangement is represented in U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,159 (Martin); U.S. Pat. No. 6,647,554 (Yan) and U.S. Des. Pat. No. D503,261 (Pedersen). The solution of placing sunglasses on a hat in this manner serves the dual purpose of keeping a pair of sunglasses in the possession of the wearer, while keeping the lenses safe from damage. However, the embodiments of this concept represented in the cited patents tend to retain a pair of sunglasses too loosely, thereby causing the sunglasses to often fall from the hat, when the hat is removed quickly from the head, for example. If the sunglasses fall to the ground, their lenses can be damaged by the hard ground surface, or the wearer can destroy the sunglasses to stepping on them.  
         [0006]     Therefore, a need exists for an improved headwear having a sunglass keeper which snugly retains a pair of sunglasses or eyeglasses upon the headwear under any normal wearing condition.  
         [0007]     The foregoing reflects the state of the art of which the inventor is aware, and is tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor&#39;s acknowledged duty of candor, which may be pertinent to the patentability of the present invention. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing discussion does not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor&#39;s claimed invention.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     The inventive device is an improved headwear with a keeper for retaining eyeglasses thereon. In most instances the device will be used with sunglasses to keep them from becoming misplaced. The invention positions the keeper at a location upon the opposite sides of a crown of the headwear, such that when the temples of a pair of sunglasses are inserted into the keepers, a downward pressure is exerted upon the temples, which brings the lens frames into firm contact with the visor or brim portion of the headwear. This action tends to maintain the eyeglasses upon the headwear in a tighter, more positive fashion than the prior art inventions mentioned herein.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES  
       [0009]     The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following drawings which are for illustrative purposes only:  
         [0010]      FIG. 1A  is an elevated perspective view of the inventive headwear shown with a pair of eyeglasses fully seated thereon.  
         [0011]      FIG. 1B  is a plan view of the inventive headwear shown with a pair of eyeglasses fully seated thereon.  
         [0012]      FIG. 2  is a close-up view of the eyeglass keeper attached to the crown portion of the inventive headwear.  
         [0013]      FIG. 3  is a close-up view of the eyeglass keeper shown with a temple portion of a pair of eyeglasses positioned within the keeper.  
         [0014]      FIG. 4A  is a side view of a prior art baseball cap having an eyeglass keeper, shown with a pair of eyeglasses positioned thereon.  
         [0015]      FIG. 4B  is a side view of a prior art baseball cap having an eyeglass keeper, shown with a pair of eyeglasses positioned thereon.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4C  is a side view of a prior art baseball cap having an eyeglass keeper, shown with a pair of eyeglasses positioned thereon.  
         [0017]      FIG. 4D  is a side view of a baseball cap of the present invention shown with a pair of eyeglasses positioned thereon for comparison with the prior art baseball caps shown in  FIGS. 4A-4C .  
         [0018]      FIG. 5  is a side view of an alternative embodiment of the baseball cap of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0019]     The inventive headwear  10  with eyeglasses keeper  12  is shown in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , these figure[s] showing the invention as a baseball cap embodiment. Here the headwear has a crown portion  14  having an interior  16  for fittingly enclosing a human head and an exterior  18  upon which are attached the eyeglasses keepers  12 . A visor  20  is attached to the front of the crown in typical baseball cap fashion. The eyeglasses keepers  12  are mounted in aligned pairs located on the left and right sides of the crown  14 . The eyeglasses keeper  12  retains eyeglasses  22  having eyeglass frames  24  containing lenses  26  the frames  24  being hinged to a pair of temples  28 , the temples  28  extending rearward of the frames and terminating in an end piece  30 , the end piece  30  being curved or straight.  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  is a close-up view of the preferred eyeglasses keeper  12 . The keeper  12  is a square, rectangular or trapezoidal patch with four corners. The keeper  12  has a front opening  32  and a rear opening  34 , the keeper  12  further being fastened to the cap  10  across its top  36  and bottom  38  edges. The top and bottom edges  36 ,  38  are typically stitched to the cap  10 , but other means of fastening, including pins, staples, rivets or adhesive could also be used. The distance between top and bottom edges  36 ,  38  on the interior side of the keeper  12  which contacts the temples  28  of a pair of eyeglasses  22  is between 1″ and 1⅛″. The front and rear openings,  32 ,  34  receive the end pieces  30  and temples  28  of a pair of eyeglasses  22 , as shown in  FIG. 3 . The keeper  12  is made of heavy duty elastic materials, such as Stretchrite™, which is manufactured by Rhode Island Textile Company of Pawtucket, R.I. This material has proven to have strong wear characteristics and elastic properties required by the invention.  
         [0021]     Upon inserting the end pieces  30  and temples  28  of a pair of eyeglasses  22  through front opening  32 , the eyeglasses  22  are preferably pushed rearward until the inside of the eyeglass frames  24  contact the front  40  of the crown portion  14  of the cap  10  (see  FIGS. 4D and 5 ). At this point, the eyeglasses  22  are fully seated in the keepers  12 . The end pieces  30  of a standard set of eyeglasses  22  will protrude through the rear opening  34 . Once seated, the keepers  12  exert downward pressure upon the top of the temples at keeper corner (point “A”). This downward pressure keeps the bottom (point “B”) of eyeglass frames  24  pressed against the visor  20 . When properly seated, the temples  28  are downwardly angled due to the downward pressure applied by keepers  12  upon the temples  28 , this downward pressure positioning the end pieces  30  lower than the bottom (point “B”) of the frames  24  resting on the visor  20 . The end pieces  30 , especially curved end pieces, are held fast at keeper corner (point “C”), thereby providing another point of firm engagement of the eyeglasses  22  upon the headwear  10 .  
         [0022]     The placement of the keepers  12  upon the sides of the crown  14  of cap  10  is crucial to maintaining corner point “A” or keeper  12  at the proper location for exerting downward pressure upon temples  28 . The placement of the keepers  12  differentiates the inventive headwear  10  from the prior art. Referring to  FIGS. 4A-4C , the keepers  42 ,  44 ,  46 , shown at locations upon the crown  14  represent typical placement of prior art keepers having eyeglasses inserted therein. Also shown in phantom in  FIGS. 4A-4C  is the placement location of the keeper  12  of the present invention along with a phantom cutaway portion of a temple  28  of a pair of eyeglasses, for comparison with the prior art.  FIG. 4D  shows the preferred embodiment of the invention with the keeper  12  shown placed low on the crown  14 , adjacent to the junction  41 , where the visor  20  meets the crown  14 . This lower placement of the keepers  12 , when compared to the prior art, draws the temples  28  downward, which also draws the lens frames  24  downward against the visor  20 . The elastic keepers at corner point “A” stretch around the temples  28 , thereby creating a first frictional engagement with the eyeglasses. A second frictional engagement is created when the bottom of the frames at point “B” are pressed against the visor  20 . The elastic keepers stretch around the temples, serving to contact a larger surface area than the prior art keepers.  
         [0023]      FIG. 5  shows the keeper  12  having a trapezoidal shape. The front angles side  42  of the keeper  12  is raked at preferably about a 60 degree angle. The inventor feels that this embodiment facilitates the guiding of the end portions  30  of the temples  28  into the front opening  32  of the keeper  12 .  
         [0024]     The inventive headwear as described herein maintains a pair of eyeglasses more firmly upon the headwear than the prior art. Once a pair of eyeglasses is inserted into the keepers of the invention, even fairly vigorous movements fail to dislodge the eyeglasses from the inventive headwear. The inventive headwear presents a safe and secure location for eyeglasses to be placed so that they will not be lost or damaged during normal daily activities.  
         [0025]     Finally, although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. This invention may be altered and rearranged in numerous ways by one skilled in the art without departing from the coverage of any patent claims which are supported by this specification.