Patent Publication Number: US-2005114980-A1

Title: Wader having removable insulation

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
      This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/820,405, filed on Apr. 8, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference. Application Ser. No. 10/820,405 is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority to U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,401, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     RELATED ART  
      Waders are typically used to enable fishermen, hunters, and the like to wade through water, such as streams or rivers, for example. A wader is a garment that is worn around a user&#39;s feet and legs. Many waders also cover the user&#39;s waist and a portion of the user&#39;s chest. Waders are typically compromised of waterproof material and isolate the user from surrounding water in order to keep the user dry as he or she wades through the water.  
      Although waders provide some thermal insulation, user&#39;s typically must wear additional garments in order to stay warm especially during early morning hours before or just after the Sun has risen. However, as the Sun rises and begins to warm the environment, a user may desire to shed some of the garments being worn for thermal insulation. In order to shed such garments, the user typically must she his or her wader first. After removing one or more garments, the user may again don the wader and continue his or her activities. Unfortunately, waders are relatively burdensome to remove and don. Thus, a user often must choose between enduring uncomfortable temperatures or enduring the burdens of removing and donning the wader that he or she is wearing.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention overcomes the inadequacies and deficiencies of the prior art as discussed hereinbefore. Generally, the present invention provides a wader that enables a user to easily and conveniently change the amount of thermal insulation provided to his or her legs.  
      A wader in accordance with the present invention includes a wader leg and a leg insulator. The leg insulator is placed in contact with the wader leg and provides thermal insulation for a user&#39;s leg when the user is wearing the wader. However, the leg insulator can be easily and conveniently removed from the wader leg while the user&#39;s leg is positioned within the wader leg. Therefore, it is not necessary for the user to remove the wader in order to reduce the amount of thermal insulation provided to his or her leg.  
      The present invention can also be viewed as providing a method for enabling a user to easily and conveniently change the amount of thermal insulation provided to his or her legs. The method can be broadly conceptualized by the following steps: providing a wader, the wader having a wader leg, contacting the wader with a leg insulator, inserting a user&#39;s leg into the wader leg; positioning the leg insulator such that the leg insulator thermally insulates the user&#39;s leg when the user&#39;s leg is inserted into the wader leg; and removing the leg insulator from the wader leg while the user&#39;s leg is inserted into the wader leg.  
      Various features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon examination of the following detailed description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is intended that all such features and advantages be included herein within the scope of the present invention and protected by the claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily to scale relative to each other, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the invention. Furthermore, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.  
       FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a wader in accordance with the prior art.  
       FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating an exemplary wader in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating a three-dimensional view of a leg insulator depicted in  FIG. 2 .  
       FIG. 4  is a diagram illustrating a top view of the wader depicted in  FIG. 2 .  
       FIG. 5  is a diagram illustrating a wader in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.  
       FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating a top view of a wader leg depicted in  FIG. 5 .  
       FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating a top view of a wader leg, such as is depicted in  FIG. 5 .  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       FIG. 1  depicts a conventional wader  15 . The wader  15  shown by  FIG. 1  covers a user&#39;s body from his or her chest to his or her feet and is supported by a pair of suspenders  17 . Furthermore, the wader  15  is comprised of waterproof material. Therefore, the user may wade into water up to his or her chest with the wader  15  isolating the user&#39;s body from the water.  
      The water that the user wades through is typically cold, and the user may desire to have his or her legs thermally insulated, to a degree, from the cold water. The portions of the wader  15  covering the user&#39;s legs provide some thermal insulation. Note that the portions of the wader  15  covering the user&#39;s legs will be referred to hereafter as “wader legs  19 .” However, the amount of thermal insulation desired may change depending on environmental conditions, which often vary. Thus, the wader legs  19  are not typically designed to provide significant thermal insulation allowing the user to control the amount of thermal insulation between the water and his or her legs by wearing garments (e.g., pants) of his or her choosing underneath the wader legs  19 .  
      Environmental conditions may change after the user has donned the wader  15 . Indeed, in many circumstances, the user may wish to remove one or more leg garments due to rising environmental temperatures. Unfortunately, to remove such garments, the user usually must remove the wader  15  first, and the process of removing and donning the wader  15  is often a burdensome task.  
       FIG. 2  depicts a wader  30  having wader legs  33  in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The wader  30  may be identical to the conventional wader  15  depicted in  FIG. 1  except that the wader  30  of the present invention includes one or more leg insulators  36  inserted within the wader legs  33 . Each leg insulator  36  covers a portion of one of the user&#39;s legs and provides the user&#39;s leg with additional thermal insulation.  
      In the preferred embodiment, each leg insulator  36  extends from the front of a user&#39;s leg to at least the back of the user&#39;s same leg, although it is possible for one or more of the leg insulators  36  to cover different portions of the user&#39;s leg in other embodiments. An exemplary three-dimensional view and a top view of a leg insulator  36  in accordance with the preferred embodiment are respectively shown via  FIGS. 3 and 4 . The leg insulators  36  may be comprised of any material or combination of materials. However, it may be desirable for the leg insulators  36  to be comprised of a flexible and comfortable material, such as wool, for example, that also provides significant thermal insulation.  
      In the preferred embodiment, each leg insulator  36  is detachably coupled to the inner portion of one of the wader legs  33  via one or more attachment mechanisms  39 . The attachment mechanisms  39  may be any suitable devices for detachably coupling a leg insulator  36  to the inner portion of a wader leg  33 . An example of a suitable attachment mechanism  39  is a velcro strip. In such an example, the inner portion of a wader leg  33  where a leg insulator  36  is to be detachably coupled includes a velcro strip that adheres to the attachment mechanism  39  when the attachment mechanism  39  is engaged with the velcro strip of the wader leg  33 . In another example, the attachment mechanism  39  may be implemented as a hook or a hoop. In this regard, the inner portion of the wader leg  33  may include a hook that may be passed through the attachment mechanism  39 , which in this case is implemented as a hoop, in order to detachably couple the leg insulator  36  to the wader leg  33 . Alternatively, the inner portion of the wader leg  33  may include a hoop, and the attachment mechanism  39 , which in this case is implemented as a hook, may be passed through the hoop in order to detachably couple the leg insulator  36  to the wader leg  33 . Note that the attachment mechanism  39  may be employed via other types of devices in other embodiments.  
      It should also be noted that the attachment mechanisms  39  are not necessary features of the present invention and may be removed, if desired. In this regard, the leg insulators  36  may be positioned within the wader legs  33  without detachably coupling the leg insulators  36  to the wader legs  33 . When the user walks into water, the pressure exerted on the user&#39;s legs from the water generally holds the leg insulators  36  in place relative to the wader legs  33  and to the user&#39;s legs. Furthermore, in alternative embodiments, the leg insulators  36  may be detachably attached to the user&#39;s legs instead of the wader legs  33 . For example, a belt (not shown) wrapped around the upper portion of a leg insulator  36  and a user&#39;s leg may be utilized to secure the leg insulator  36  to the user&#39;s leg.  
      As shown, by  FIGS. 2-4 , the preferred embodiment of the wader  30  includes multiple attachment mechanisms  39  located at the top of each leg insulator  36  and multiple attachment mechanisms  39  located at the bottom of each leg insulator  36 . However, other numbers and positions of the attachment mechanisms  39  can be employed without departing from the principles of the present invention. Indeed, as set forth above, it is not necessary for the attachment mechanisms  39  to even be employed in implementing the present invention.  
      If the user becomes uncomfortably warm while wearing the wader  30 , the user may remove one or more of the leg insulators  36 . This can be conveniently accomplished while the user&#39;s legs are still in the wader legs  33 . In this regard, the user may simply grab the top of a leg insulator  36  and pull the leg insulator  36  out of the wader leg  33  and out of the wader  30  entirely while wearing the wader  30 . In order to reach into the wader  30  and grab the leg insulator  36 , it may be helpful for the user to unhook one or more of the suspenders  17 . However, it is not necessary for the user to remove his or her leg from the wader leg  33  in which the removed leg insulator  36  originally resided.  
      Furthermore, when the leg insulator  36  is detachably coupled to the wader leg  33 , it may be necessary for the user to detach the leg insulator  36  from the wader leg  33 . For velcro attachment mechanisms  39 , the foregoing may be accomplished by pulling the leg insulator  36  away from the wader leg  33 . For hook/hoop arrangements of the attachment mechanisms  39 , the user may manually unhook the attachment mechanisms  39 . Other techniques for other types of attachment mechanisms  39  may be employed in order to detach the leg insulator  36  from the wader leg  33 .  
      To enable the leg insulator  36  to be removed from the wader  30  without removing the user&#39;s legs from the wader legs  33 , the leg insulators  36  preferably do not form a complete cylinder (i.e., a cylinder not having any lengthwise ends, such as ends  42  and  44 , that extend from a top end to a bottom end of a leg insulator  36 ). In this regard, if the leg insulators  36  formed a complete cylinder, it can be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that it would be difficult to remove the leg insulators  36  without removing the user&#39;s legs from the wader legs  33 . Moreover, by having two lengthwise ends  42  and  44 , it is possible to pull the leg insulator  36  out of the wader  30  with the user&#39;s leg passing between the two ends  42  and  44  thereby allowing the user to keep his or her leg in the wader leg  33  while the leg insulator  36  is being removed.  
      However, to increase the thermal insulation provided by the leg insulator  36 , it may be desirable to encircle the user&#39;s leg as much as is conveniently possible.  FIGS. 2-4  depict an embodiment where the each of the leg insulators  36  substantially encircles one of the user&#39;s legs. In this regard, each leg insulator  36  extends from at least the front of one of the user&#39;s leg to the back of the same leg.  
      Note that various types of other conventional waders may be employed in implementing the present invention. As an example, refer to  FIG. 5 , which depicts a wader  50  in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The wader  50  of  FIG. 5  comprises two wader legs  52  that are separated from each other. A leg insulator  36  is positioned within each wader leg  52 . In this embodiment, each leg insulator  36  extends all of the way around one of the user&#39;s legs except for a small gap  54  between the ends  42  and  44  of the leg insulator  36 . Note that  FIG. 6  depicts a top view of one of the wader legs  52  depicted in  FIG. 5 . Covering such a large area of the user&#39;s legs with the leg insulators  36  may be beneficial for increasing the thermal insulation provided by the leg insulators  36 . Also, note that the same configuration and positioning of the leg insulators  36 , as shown in  FIGS. 5 and 6 , may be employed with the wader  30  shown in  FIG. 2 .  
      In addition, the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described as inserting leg insulators  36  within wader legs  33  or  52 . However, in other embodiments, it is possible for the leg insulators  36  to be positioned on the outside of the wader legs  33  or  52 . However, such an arrangement may provide less thermal insulation and may require the use of more expensive materials. In this regard, the leg insulators  36  would be immersed within the water being waded through by the user and should, therefore, be comprised of water resistant material. In such an embodiment, the leg insulator  36  should be detachably coupled to the wader leg  33  or  52  via any suitable technique, such as the techniques described hereinabove for detachably securing the leg insulators  36  to the waders legs  33  or  52  or to the user&#39;s legs.  
      Note that a leg insulator  36  may have multiple gaps such that the leg insulator comprises different portions that may be separately removed from a wader leg  33  or  52 . For example,  FIG. 7  depicts a top view of a leg insulator  72  that is similar to the leg insulator  36  depicted by  FIGS. 5 and 6 . In this regard, the leg insulator  72 , similar to the leg insulator  36  of  FIG. 6 , has a gap  54  that extends from a top end of the leg insulator  72  to a bottom end of the leg insulator  72 . Further, the leg insulator  72  also has a second gap  74  that, similar to gap  54 , extends from a top end of the leg insulator  72  to a bottom end of the leg insulator  72 . Thus, the leg insulator  72  has two portions  76  and  77  separated by gaps  54  and  74 . Moreover, portions  76  and  77  may be separately removed from the wader leg  52 . In this regard, portion  76  may be removed by grabbing the top of portion  76  and pulling the portion  76  out of the wader leg  52 , and portion  77  may be removed by grabbing the top of the portion and pulling the portion  77  out of the wader leg  52 .  
      It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the present invention, particularly, any “preferred” embodiments, are merely possible examples of implementations, merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the invention. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) of the invention without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the invention. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and the present invention and protected by the following claims.