Patent Publication Number: US-2006010567-A1

Title: Headwear

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      This invention relates to headwear of the type incorporating a visor or brim for shielding the face of the wearer from the sun and other weather elements and particularly to headwear of this type designed to be worn in a variety of differing modes such as for example a sweat band, head scarf or kerchief.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The popularity of of visored-type headwear in a wide range of sports, such as for example golf, baseball, softball, tennis, and in a variety of liesure and health related activities, such as jogging, bicycling, walking, etc., has resulted in the development of a number of different designs for providing the desired shielding effect of the wearer&#39;s face while at the same time providing some measure of fashion appealing to the consuming public.  
      U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,272, for one, shows a brim or visor member having flap-like end pieces for releasable attaching the brim or visor to a bandanna folded or rolled into a band to fit around the head of the user. Among other advantages, the design of the cited patent allows for the ready detachment of the visor from the bandanna when it is desired to clean or launder the latter. A somewhat similar design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,063.  
      While these and other such designs of headwear are appealing and offer distinctive advantages in the market place, for one reason or another there has been a somewhat limited acceptance only of these designs by the public. The market for these types of headwear will support a somewhat limited price only and it is believed that the designs referred to are perhaps overly expensive for their target market. Other designs have been proposed over the years but the market remains dominated by the standard visored type full head cap or hat such as used in softball or traditional visored golf cap, on the one hand, and by the well accepted, broadly used visor-less sweat or head band, on the other hand.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention has as its principal objective the provision of a visored type head wear of improved and simplified construction and which can be worn as a head band, kerchief or head scarf, as desired.  
      The invention combines with a traditional bandanna or like similarly shaped piece of fabric, a self-supporting, yet pliable brim or visor-member attached between folds of the bandanna or other cloth member on the bias as by stitching or sewing. To wear as a sweat band, the folds of bandanna or fabric are pulled back from the visor to an overlying position with one another. The folds of the bandanna or cloth member are then rolled up upon one another to form a narrow band which may then be tied around the wearer&#39;s head with the visor projecting from the brow of the wearer to provide the desired sun shielding effect.  
      In alternative modes of wear, the folds of the bandanna are placed in overlying relationship with one another as previously explained to thereby form a triangular shaped member which can be worn either as a kerchief by tying the opposed free ends of the bandanna together at the back of the wearer&#39;s head or as a head scarf by tying the free ends of bandanna together under the chin of the wearer. In either mode of wear, the visor extends or projects forwardly from the brow of the wearer to shield the face of the wearer from the weather elements.  
      The visor itself is composed of a relatively thin, yet self-supporting, pliable material such as a closed cell polymeric foam designed to permit the visor to be folded up with the bandanna for convenient storage in a hand bag, purse, pocket or shoulder pouch of the wearer when not in use without adversely affecting the shape or appearance of the visor when placed back in use.  
      The foldability of the visor is of further advantage in that it permits the wearing of the headwear of the invention in the manner of a traditional visor-less headband or sweatband, if desired. In this mode, the visor is rolled up into and with the bandanna to form a composite strip or band which may then be tied around the head of the wearer as in normal sweatband fashion. The folds of the bandanna serve to hold the rolls of the visor tightly in place thus concealing the visor within the headwear.  
      A versatile headwear is thus provided yet one which is easily constructed of readily available, fairly inexpensive materials. The proposed headwear can be produced in a variety of materials, either synthetic, natural or blends, and in the same or contrasting colors for the visor and bandanna or other cloth member whereby to provide a wide range of fashionable appeal in the marketplace.  
      Independent features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the following detailed description, claims and drawings.  
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the headwear of the invention as worn by an individual in the mode of a kerchief.  
       FIG. 2  is a view similar to  FIG. 2  illustrating the headwear of the invention being worn as a head band or sweat band.  
       FIG. 3  is another view like  FIGS. 1 and 2  illustrating the headwear of the invention worn as a headband, the visor being rolled up and concealed within the headband itself.  
       FIG. 4  is a similar view to the previous views illustrating the headwear worn as a head scarf.  
       FIG. 5  is a general plan view showing the separate components of the headwear of the invention, illustrating the manner in which these components are assembled to one another.  
       FIG. 6  is a section along the lines  6 - 6  of  FIG. 5 , showing the stitching securing the visor to the bandanna or other cloth member.  
       FIG. 7  is a section taken on the lines  7 - 7  of  FIG. 3 , depicting the visor rolled up within the bandanna or other cloth member when the headwear of the invention is worn in the manner of a traditional sweatband. 
    
    
      It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of components set forth in the following description of a presently preferred embodiment of the invention.  
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
      With regard now to the drawings, the headwear of the invention, indicated generally as a whole by the reference numeral  1 , includes a fabric member  2  having secured thereto a visor member  3 . Headwear  1  can be worn as a kerchief, headband or sweatband, or as a head scarf, as shown in  FIGS. 1,2  and  4  of the drawings, respectively. In all these various modes of wear, visor member  3  extends forwardly from the brow of the individual user to provide a beneficial sun shielding action as well as protecting the user&#39;s face from the elements as a whole. The headwear of the invention may also be worn in the manner of a visor-less or conventional type of sweatband, see  FIG. 3  of the drawings. In this mode of wear, visor member  3  is rolled up within the sweatband so as to be completely concealed from view.  
      Now with regard to the details of construction of headware  1 , fabric member  2  preferably is in the form of a bandanna of the type readily commercially available in a variety of bright colors and patterns of various designs. The standard type bandanna has sides of equal length, this being a preferred configuration for reasons to become apparent in the ensuing description of the invention.  
      Visor member  3  is a generally conventional design, being formed with a main, outer bill portion brim  4  and an inner concave edge portion  5  shaped to fit the brow or forehead of the individual using the headwear. As will be explained in greater detail hereinafter, visor member  3  is composed of a relatively thin, self-supporting yet pliable plastic or foam rubber material to enable headwear  1  to be folded for storage when not being worn by an individual.  
      The manner in which visor member  3  is connected to the bandanna or other cloth r fabric member is best illustrated in  FIGS. 5 and 6  of the drawings. Referring thereto, the bandanna is initially folded along its bias or diagonal with the separate folds thereof overlying the visor member, the latter being positioned with inner edge  5  adjacent to and in parallel relation with the diagonal fold line and with brim  4  extending outwardly toward a corresponding corner of the bandanna. Thus posited, visor member  3  is secured in place by stitching  6  inserted through and between visor inner edge portion  5  and the overlapping separate folds of the bandanna.  
      The matching ends of bandanna or other fabric member  2  opposite the bill or brim  4  of visor  3  are pulled back from the visor and folded together in back-to-back, triangular fashion to provide the finished headwear which can then be worn as a kerchief, head scarf or sweatband as desired. When worn as a kerchief, the bandanna is simply wrapped around the head of the wearer with brim member against the brow of the latter and with the opposed free ends of bandanna  2  tied to one another at the back of the wearer&#39;s head to secure the headwear in place. To wear as a head scarf, bandanna is placed over the user&#39;s head with visor member again positioned against the forehead of the user and with the opposed free ends of bandanna turned under the user&#39;s chin and tied to one another to secure the headwear in place. In both cases, visor member  3  projects forwardly from the brow of the user to provide the desired shielding effect from the sun and other weather elements.  
      Alternatively, to wear as a head or sweat band, the bandanna is simply folded repeatedly upon itself in a direction toward visor member  3  to form a narrow band or strand ending at the junction with visor member  3 . The resultant band is then wrapped around the head of the wearer or user with visor member  3  against the user&#39;s brow or forehead and the opposed free ends of bandanna  2  tied together at the back of the user&#39;s head. As in the prior instances, visor member  2  extends outwardly of the user&#39;s brow in this mode of wear to afford a sun shielding action.  
      It is noteworthy that due to the manner of attaching visor member  3  to bandanna  2  by stitching  6  which is extended through the separate folds of the bandanna and the intermediate, inner edge portion of the visor, these stitches are completely covered by the separate folds of bandanna when the headpiece of the invention is worn in any of its various modes. The resultant headwear has a very attractive finished appearance, adding further to the to the marketability of the headwear of the invention.  
      A still further mode of wear for the instant headwear is shown in  FIG. 3  of the drawings. In this case, visor member  3  is rolled up upon itself and folded within the bandanna as the latter is rolled into the shape of a narrow band for wear as a sweatband as in the embodiment previously described and shown in  FIG. 2  of the drawings. The folds of bandanna  2  serve to retain the visor member in a tightly folded condition when the headpiece is tied in place, thereby to completely conceal the visor from view to provide a still further degree of versatility to the headpiece of the invention.  
      The foldable nature of visor member  3  is of further advantage in that it allows the headwear of the invention as a whole to be folded up for storage in the pocket, purse, handbag, shoulder pouch, tote or the like of the user when not in use. Yet, the visor member has sufficient resiliency to spring back to its normal condition when the headpiece is placed back in use.  
      While various materials of construction may be utilized for visor member  3 , a particularly preferred material is any of a number closed cell plastic foams as, for example, a vinyl polymer. Materials of this class have a self-supporting characteristic in thicknesses even down to about 3 mm thus affording lightness to the finished headpiece consistent with the requisite foldable, yet resiliency characteristics desired for the visor member. Furthermore, these closed cell materials are moisture resistant and thus well suited for usage in activities where perspiration inevitably will be encountered. With this moisture impermeability also comes the fact that hand laundering of the headwear is possible when needed without adversely affecting the desired self-supporting characteristic of the visor member.  
      These closed cell polmers or foam materials are susceptible of being produced in a wide range of fade-resistant colors, allowing attractive, fashionable combinations of colors for the visor and bandanna or other cloth member  3 .  
      While the fabric member as shown and described herein is in the form of a conventional bandanna, it will be appreciated that a wide variety of other types of fabrics, both natural and synthetic, may be utilized in the headwear of the invention. Cotton or a cotton blend is advantageous in that it is durable, readily machine or hand washable, relatively inexpensive, readily available in the market in a variety of colors, patterns, weaves, etc. Also, while a square configuration is preferred for the fabric member  2  as it results in the sections of the material matching one another when folded on the bias or diagonal, other shapes or configurations are possible for fabric member  2 . Thus, for example, with a fabric member of rectangular configuration other than a square the fabric would be folded double along its length. The visor member  3  is then secured between the folds of the member so as to project outwardly from the brow of the user when the member is put in position on the head of the user in the manner of a headband or sweatband, kerchief or head scarf as described earlier.