Abstract:
A shirt having a loop located on the front panel thereof for temporarily supporting eyeglasses by gravity. The loop is flexible, may be affixed to the shirt at two spaced apart points, and may be horizontally oriented when the shirt is worn with the neck opening facing upwardly. The loop may be permanently affixed such as by stitching or alternatively may be removably affixed such as by comprising spring loaded clips each of which releasably affixes one end of the loop to the shirt. The loop is preferably located about four inches below the neck opening and is preferably centered with respect to right and left sides of the shirt. Where the neck opening of the shirt includes a placket, the loop may overlie the placket.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a support for supporting eyeglasses on apparel such as shirts. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    People must from time to time remove and store eyeglasses. Glasses may for example be ordinary corrective glasses which are being removed for diverse reasons, may be sunglasses which obstruct vision at low light levels, or may be reading glasses which are ineffective when viewing things at a distance. Removal may be temporary, so that it becomes necessary to have the glasses readily at hand for when the time comes to replace them. 
         [0003]    People typically place removed glasses on an environmental surface, or rotate them such that the lenses are supported on the top of the head of the user, or put them in a pocket. Each of these solutions to the problem of what to do with removed glasses has its advantages and disadvantages. Significant disadvantages include inconvenience of retrieving the glasses, forgetting where they have been placed, or subsequent loss such as might occur with glasses not secured when suspended from a breast pocket or stowed on the head. 
         [0004]    There remains a need for a convenient, practical way to store glasses that have been temporarily removed. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The present invention meets the above need by providing anchorage of removed glasses on apparel. Apparatus which accomplishes this is advantageously arranged so as not to stretch or deform the apparel, to locate the anchorage at a convenient location, and to securely engage eyeglasses by insertion of the arms. To this end, a loop is affixed to the apparel. The loop may be permanently fixed to the apparel, or alternatively, may comprise a detachable component. The anchorage is preferably located at any point below the collar and along the placket at the neck. 
         [0006]    A significant advantage of the invention is to provide an immediately usable, convenient place to suspend eyeglasses by an arm thereof when temporarily removing the eyeglasses, and when there is an intent to replace the eyeglasses on the head shortly after removal. 
         [0007]    It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof by apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable, and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes. 
         [0008]    These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    Various objects, features, and attendant advantages of the present invention will become more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is a front plan view of a shirt adapted to provide anchorage for eyeglasses, according to at least one aspect of the invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is an enlarged front detail view of eyeglasses suspended from an anchorage element which is a component of the shirt of  FIG. 1 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a plan view of an alternative to the anchorage element of  FIG. 2 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]      FIG. 1  of the drawings shows a shirt  10  adapted to provide anchorage for eyeglasses  12  (see  FIG. 2 ), according to at least one aspect of the invention. The shirt  10  may be of any type, including those provided with buttons such as the buttons  14 , which may extend the full height of the shirt  10 , or as depicted, only along a placket  16 . The shirt  10  may be of any type without buttons. Blouses, so called “tee” shirts, long and short sleeved shirts, sleeveless shirts, and other garments for the upper torso, such as sweaters, sweatshirts, vests, jackets, and others will be understood to be encompassed under the term “shirt”, which is employed in representative capacity herein. 
         [0014]    The shirt  10  may have a torso encircling component  18  having an interior surface  20 , an exterior surface  22 , and front panel  24  and a rear panel  26 . The torso encircling component  18  defines therein a neck opening  28 , a torso opening  30 , a right arm opening  32 , and a left arm opening  34 . The right arm opening  32  may include a right sleeve  36 . The left arm opening  34  may include a left sleeve  38 . The neck opening  28  may include a collar  40  as well as the placket  16 . Obviously, different types or styles of shirts may omit some of the above features, or alternatively have the features in forms different from the form shown and described herein. 
         [0015]    The component of the shirt  10  which provides anchorage for the eyeglasses  12  may be described as a closed loop  42 , which is disposed on the exterior surface  22  of the front panel  24  of the torso encircling component  18 . The closed loop  42  may comprise a flexible strip of material which is affixed to the front panel  24  such that the closed loop  42  may present a bottomless receptacle for receiving an arm  44  of the eyeglasses  12  when the eyeglasses  12  are installed in engagement with the closed loop  42  (this is shown in  FIG. 2 ). The closed loop  42  thus is serviceable to serve as a suspension support for suspending the eyeglasses  12  so installed by gravity when the shirt  10  is in an upright orientation with the neck opening  28  facing upwardly and the torso opening  30  facing downwardly. 
         [0016]    According to one aspect of the invention, the closed loop  42  may be affixed to the front panel  24  in any location readily accessible by hand for installing the arm of the eyeglasses  12  therethrough, as shown in  FIG. 2 . More advantageously, the closed loop  42  may be affixed to the front panel  24  at a location below the neck opening  28 . 
         [0017]    While it would be possible to anchor the closed loop  42  at one point to the front panel  24 , this could result in the closed loop  42  being hard to spread open sufficiently so as to facilitate insertion of the arm  44  therethrough. Therefore, the closed loop  42  is preferably formed from a flexible strip of material having a first end  46  and a second end  48  each affixed to the front panel  24  ( FIG. 1 ) at two spaced apart points. The strip of material may be of any suitable flexible fabric, for example, which may be the same fabric as that from which the torso encircling component  18  or any other part of the shirt  10  is fabricated, or alternatively, may be another fabric. Of course, other constituent materials such as leather, plastic, braided metal, and others may be used if desired. The strip of material may be between one and five inches long when drawn straight, and more preferably, between two and three inches long when drawn straight. As seen in  FIG. 2 , the strip of material forming the closed loop  42  may be between one half and one inch wide along its length. Width is indicated as an arrow  54  in  FIG. 2 ; length is indicated by an arrow  56 . 
         [0018]    When affixed as shown in  FIG. 1 , the closed loop  42 , which of course includes both the strip of material shown in  FIG. 2  and also an expanse of the front panel  24  of the shirt  10 , will generally assume the same dimensions when the shirt  10  is worn under ordinary conditions. 
         [0019]    Attachment of the strip of material at spaced apart points maintains the opening formed between the strip of material and the front panel  24  open such that it is easy to insert the arm  44  through this opening when suspending the eyeglasses  12  from the closed loop  42  for temporary support on the shirt  10 . Attachment of the strip of material may be by first and second stitches  50 ,  52 , although other forms of attachment are possible. 
         [0020]    It should be understood that the strip of material which cooperates with the front panel  24  to form the completed closed loop  42  terminates at the points of attachment such as at the first end  46  and second end  48 , just beyond respective stitches  50  and  52 , such that the closed loop  42  is an entity unto itself and is not a continuation or part of other structure associated with the shirt  10  for another purpose. 
         [0021]    When installed on the front panel  24  of the shirt  10  as seen in  FIG. 1 , the closed loop  42  extends generally horizontally between from the point at which the first end  46  is affixed to the front panel  24  to the point at which the second end  48  is affixed to the front panel  24  when the shirt  10  is in an upright orientation with the neck opening  28  facing upwardly and the torso opening  30  facing downwardly. 
         [0022]    It should be noted at this point that orientational terms such as upwardly and downwardly refer to the subject drawing as viewed by an observer. The drawing figures depict their subject matter in orientations of normal use, which could obviously change with changes in body posture and position. Therefore, orientational terms must be understood to provide semantic basis for purposes of description, and do not limit the invention or its component parts in any particular way. 
         [0023]    The closed loop  42  may be located between two and six inches below the neck opening  28  and may be centered on the shirt  10  with respect to right and left sides of the shirt  10 . More particularly, the closed loop  42  may be located about four inches below the neck opening  28 . 
         [0024]    As depicted in  FIG. 1 , the placket  16  of the shirt  10  extends downwardly from the neck opening  28 . The closed loop  42  overlies the placket  16  and is attached to the front panel  24  of the shirt  10  at the right side of the placket  16  and at the left side of the placket  16 . 
         [0025]    Thus far, the invention has been described such that the closed loop  42  is permanently attached to the shirt  10 . It would be possible to make part of the closed loop of the invention removably attachable to the torso encircling component  18 . This is shown in  FIG. 3 , wherein a closed loop (the component integral with the shirt  10  is omitted from the view of  FIG. 3 ) may comprise a strip  58  including a first clip  60  located at one end of the strip  58  and a second clip  62  located at the second end of the strip  58 . The first clip  60  and the second clip  62  are movable between an opened condition (not shown) and a closed condition (as shown). In the opened condition, the upper and lower jaws  64 ,  66  are spread apart as they pivot about an axle  68 . The first and second clips  60 ,  62  may each be similar to one another, and of the type informally known as alligator jaw clips for example, wherein each clip  60  or  62  has a spring member (not visible) urging the respective first clip  60  and second clip  62  into the closed condition. 
         [0026]    Of course, a removably attachable closed loop may utilize fasteners other than clips. For example, a removably attachable closed loop may utilize snaps, buttons, hook and loop fastener material, hook and eye, and other types of fasteners, although these may require that complementing components be affixed to the front panel  24  of the shirt  10 . 
         [0027]    While the present invention has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the present invention is not to be limited to the disclosed arrangements, but is intended to cover various arrangements which are included within the spirit and scope of the broadest possible interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all modifications and equivalent arrangements which are possible