Abstract:
Headwear having a head-fitting portion and a visor portion, with an extended fabric portion stretching from the top of the head-fitting portion to the front edge of the visor portion to create the appearance of a unitary crown and visor. The resulting headwear, which can include a baseball-style cap and a sun visor, can be produced easily and is attractive in use, enabling decorative portions to transition without interruption from the visor to and across the head-fitting portion.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention is related to the field of caps having visors and, more particularly, to headwear having extended fabric portions to create a crown and visor with unitary appearance.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    Baseball style caps, such as that shown in FIG. 1, are widely worn and generally include a crown  1  which is the main part of the cap, a visor  2  which is attached to the underside of the front part of the crown, and a size controlling part (not visible) which is attached to the inner edge of the rear part of the crown. The crown  1  is generally made of several triangular portions of cloth which are sewn together, while the visor  2  is generally made of two cloth sheets separated and reinforced by a fixing element.  
           [0005]    When manufacturing a conventional baseball-style cap, such as that shown in FIG. 1, the crown and visor portions are made separately and then subsequently sewn together. Such separate manufacturing steps increase fabrication time and reduce productivity. If coordinating designs or decorative additions across the crown and visor portions are desired, fabrication time is further increased.  
           [0006]    Therefore, a need exists for aesthetically pleasing headwear having simplified manufacturing requirements.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    In view of the foregoing, one object of the present invention is to provide an improved cap structure having a unitary crown and visor fabric portion with simplified manufacturing requirements.  
           [0008]    Another object of the present invention is headwear having extended fabric portions that create a unitary crown and visor appearance which allows decorative portions to be easily extended across the entire crown and visor areas without interruption.  
           [0009]    A further object of the invention is headwear having a unitary design with linking embroidery for enhanced visual appeal.  
           [0010]    In accordance with these and other objects, the present invention is directed to a cap having a crown, a visor, a headband and preferably a size adjusting part. The front portion of the crown is formed from one or more unitary pieces of fabric which extend from the upper button of the cap to the foremost edge portion of the visor. As a result, the entire external surface portion of the cap is constructed in the same step.  
           [0011]    The present invention is also directed to a sun visor having a rim part and a visor part, and preferably also a size adjusting part. Extended fabric portions span from the front side of the rim part to the foremost edge portion of the visor to create a unitary external appearance ideal for a wide range of designs extending across the entire outer surface of the sun visor.  
           [0012]    These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0013]    [0013]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional cap;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a cap according to the present invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 3 is a partially sectioned view of the cap of FIG. 2;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating a sun visor according to the present invention; and  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 5 is a partially sectioned view of the sun visor of FIG. 4. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0018]    In describing a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, although only two preferred embodiments of the invention are explained in detail, it is to be understood that these embodiments are given by way of illustration only. It is not intended that the invention be limited in its scope to the details of construction and arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. Also, in describing the preferred embodiments, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. It is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.  
         [0019]    In accordance with a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is directed to a baseball-style cap having a unitary crown and visor construction as illustrated in FIG. 2. As shown, the cap includes a crown part, generally designated by the reference numeral  3 . The crown part is the main portion of the cap, and is constructed of a plurality of fabric portions which meet at the top and are typically covered by a button  17 . The front portion of the crown part  3  is covered with one or more extended fabric portions  5  which extend from the button  17  to the front edge  7  of the visor part, generally designated by the reference numeral  4 . As a result, the crown part  3  and the visor part  4  are seen as one unit, making the cap more fashionable and aesthetically pleasing. The extended fabric portions  5  are sewn on the front and side edges of the visor part with a cloth trim  19  so that the fabric covering the underside of the visor may be sewn to the extended fabric portions  5  and neatly covered. The cloth trim  19  is preferably a single unit, further enhancing the unitary appearance of the cap.  
         [0020]    Unlike conventional hat designs, in which complicated procedures were necessary to effect separate embroidered portions for the crown and visor parts which would, when combined, demonstrate good linkage, with the present invention decorative designs  6  of any desired degree of intricacy, whether embroidered or otherwise affixed, can be expressed simply and naturally, flowing without interruption across the entire crown and visor area due to the unitary crown and visor extended fabric portions  5 .  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the cap of FIG. 2, with the extended fabric portions  5  running from the crown to the front edge  7  of the visor  4  and covered with the wrapping trim  19 . The visor  4  includes a reinforced portion which is covered on the top with the extended fabric portions  5  and on the bottom with cloth  9 . The headband  16  is stitched to the inside lower edge of the crown  3 .  
         [0022]    The rear side of the crown typically has a cutout portion  20  to provide for size adjustment in conjunction with size controlling portion  18 . The size controlling portion  18  may be embodied as two strips of cloth or similar material, each sewn to a respective rear edge  18 A and extending toward the other across the cutout portion  20 . The size controlling portions  18  attach to one another through a hook and loop closure, snaps or with any other adjustable fastening means.  
         [0023]    To stitch the visor part  4  to the front side of the crown  3 , the extended fabric portions  5  are placed close to cloth  9  and seam  8  is sewn first. The work is finished by wrapping the edges, where the extended fabric portions  5  and the cloth  9  join, with trim  19  which is sewn to the underlying fabrics. The embroidery part  6  is sewn as a single unit along the extended fabric portions  5  prior to joining of the visor part  4  to the crown  3 .  
         [0024]    A sun visor according to a second preferred embodiment of the invention is depicted in FIGS. 4 and 5. As illustrated, the sun visor includes a rim part, generally designated by the reference numeral  10 , and a visor part, generally designated by the reference numeral  11 .  
         [0025]    The visor part  11  includes a reinforced portion  13  which is stitched to a lower edge  21  of the front side of the rim part  10  as shown in FIG. 5. On the upper side of the sun visor, extended fabric portions  12  span from the upper edge  22  of the front side of the rim part  10  to the front edge  23  of the visor part  11 . The underside of the visor part  11  is covered with cloth  14 , and the edge of the sun visor where the cloth  14  and the extended fabric portions are joined is covered with cloth trim  19  for a neat appearance. The cloth trim  19  is preferably a single unit, further enhancing the unitary appearance of the sun visor. A size controlling portion  18  is stitched to each of the rear side edges  24  of the rim part  10 . The size controlling portions  18  attach to one another through a hook and loop closure, snaps or with any other adjustable fastening means.  
         [0026]    As with the cap of FIGS. 2 and 3, because the extended fabric portions  12  cover the entire upper frontal portion of the headwear, the rim part  10  and the visor part  11  are seen as a single unit, enhancing the appearance of the design  15  depicted thereon. In addition, because the design is applied to the unitary extended fabric portion in a single step, no effort must be expended to coordinate separate visor and crown designs, such that the present invention simplifies and speeds manufacture.  
         [0027]    The foregoing descriptions and drawings should be considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. The invention maybe configured in a variety of shapes and sizes and is not limited by the dimensions of the preferred embodiments. Numerous applications of the present invention will readily occur to those skilled in the art. For example, the unitary crown and visor construction may be incorporated into hats and caps of other styles. Therefore, it is not desired to limit the invention to the specific examples disclosed or the exact construction and operation shown and described. Rather, all suitable modifications and equivalents maybe resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.