Patent Publication Number: US-2022225695-A1

Title: Upper body travel garments with integral comfort features

Description:
FIELD 
     The embodiments disclosed herein relate generally to upper body travel garments, e.g., jackets, vests and the like that are especially adapted to provide comfort to passengers during travel, especially long distance aircraft flights. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The extended hours of long distance travels can present several challenges to a passenger in terms of comfort. For example, a passenger is typically seated for prolonged periods during long distance travel and thus must adapt such a seated posture to the typical passenger activities during travel, including sleeping, reading and/or watching videos on a seat-back screen or a personal electronic device. Needless to say, such prolonged seated posture can contribute to passenger discomfort. 
     Cabin environmental conditions can also contribute to discomfort during prolonged travel. For example, the interior cabin temperature which houses passengers during such long distance travel typically be quite cool to many individual passengers that will in turn require the carrier to provide blankets to the passengers for warmth. 
     It would therefore be desirable if a travel garment could be provided which will allow passengers to adjust to individual preferences so as to achieve enhanced comfort, especially during long haul travel excursions. It is towards fulfilling such a need that the embodiments disclosed herein are directed. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
     Broadly, the embodiments disclosed herein are directed toward a travel jacket that integrally includes features to enhance passenger comfort. In certain embodiments, the travel jacket disclosed herein may be provided with an integral neck pillow assembly to accommodate various seated posture variations while other embodiments may additionally or alternatively be provided with integral temperature controls to allow the passenger to select an individual temperature condition that is comfortable. 
     According to certain embodiments an upper body garment (e.g., jacket, vest or the like) is provided having front and back panels enclosing a torso region of a wearer. The back panel includes a cushion back panel having an upper end attached to the front panel at shoulder regions of the garment and extending from the upper end thereof to a lower end positioned at or below a waist region of the wearer. A pull cord assembly is provided with a pull cord having one end operably connected to the lower end of the cushion back panel and an opposite free end positioned near one of the shoulder regions of the garment. Important to such embodiments, the right and left sides of the cushion back panel are releasably attachable (e.g., via any conventional two-part fabric attachments such as zippers, snaps, buttons/buttonholes, hook and loop fasteners and the like) to corresponding right and left sides of the front panel thereby allowing the cushion back panel to assume attached and unattached configurations relative to the front panel. In such a manner, therefore, a pull force exerted on the free end of the pull cord when the cushion back panel is in the unattached configuration causes the cushion back panel to roll onto itself from the lower end thereof toward the upper end thereof and thereby form a cushion roll at a neck region of the wearer. 
     The cushion back panel may comprise a series of eyelets between the upper and lower ends thereof for receiving the pull cord therein. A releasable shoulder patch may be provided so as to cover the terminal free end of the pull cord at the shoulder region of the wearer. 
     The front panel may be provided with several conveniences, such as at least one hand pocket and/or at least one breast pocket. In order to promote wearer comfort, a warming system may be operably associated with, e.g., the hand pocket(s) so as to serve as a hand warmer. 
     Some embodiments of the garment may include draw string at the waist region of the wearer to allow waist dimension adjustment thereof. 
     The cushion back panel may include a series of substantially horizontally disposed channel sections. For example, certain embodiments of the cushion back panel include a right and left series of substantially horizontally disposed channel sections, and a central non-channel section disposed between the right and left series of channel sections. In such embodiments, at least one of the right and left series of channel sections may comprise the series of eyelets between the upper and lower ends thereof for receiving the pull cord therein as briefly mentioned above. 
     These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more clear after careful consideration is given to the following detailed description of the preferred exemplary embodiments thereof. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS 
       The disclosed embodiments of the present invention will be better and more completely understood by referring to the following detailed description of exemplary non-limiting illustrative embodiments in conjunction with the drawings of which: 
         FIGS. 1 and 2  are front and back views, respectively, of a travel jacket in accordance with an embodiment of this invention being worn by a passenger; 
         FIGS. 3A-3B  are right side views of the travel jacket as depicted in  FIGS. 1-2  and showing the manner in which the sides of the cushion panel may be separated from the jacket for use as a neck cushion roll; 
         FIG. 4  is an enlarged detail view of an exemplary pull-cord mechanism that is operable interconnected to the back cushion panel; 
         FIGS. 5A-5B  sequentially show how the pull-cord mechanisms allow the passenger to roll the back cushion panel into a head/neck support pillow; and 
         FIG. 6  is an x-ray view of a heater activation button for activating the internal jacket heating elements. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Accompanying  FIGS. 1 and 2  depict a travel garment in the form of a jacket  10  in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. As shown, the jacket  10  includes a front jacket panel  12  and a back cushion panel  14  joined to one another along the jacket sides so as to envelope substantially the wearer&#39;s torso. As is conventional, the front jacket panel  12  includes a midsagittal opening between the front panel sections  12   a,    12   b  that can be secured to one another by any fasteners conventionally employed for garment closures (e.g., cooperating snaps, button/button holes, zippers, hook-and-loop fabric fasteners and the like) so as to allow the wearer to don and doff the jacket  10  and to close the jacket front panel  12  as may be needed. The jacket is of sufficient length so as to extend at or below the wearer&#39;s waist and terminates in a lower hem  10   a.    
     The jacket will also include right and left sleeves  16   a,    16   b  extending from the right and left shoulder regions  18   a,    18  of the jacket so as to cover the wearer&#39;s right and left arms and a collar  20  surrounding the wearer&#39;s neck. It should be mentioned however that the sleeves  16   a,    16   b  are not critically required in which case the garment will then be in the form of a travel vest. 
     The jacket may have a number of externally accessible compartments, such as right and left pouch pockets  22   a,    22   b  provided on the front panels  12   a,    12   b,  respectively, and a zippered breast pocket  24 . The breast pocket  24  is typically provided on the left front panel  12   b  as shown in  FIG. 1  but may also be provided on both the right and left front panels  12   a,    12   b  as may be desired. An adjustable draw string  26   a  may be provided within a draw string tunnel  26   b  formed of similar fabric material as the front panel  12  so as to allow a user to expand/contract the waist dimension of the jacket  10  as may be desired for fit. 
     The back cushion panel  14  is removably attached to the front panel  12  along each of its lower right and left sides by a zipper  30  extending from the lower seam of the jacket  10  to the underarm region of the sleeves  16   a,    16   b.  It will be appreciated that even though only the right side zipper  30  is depicted in  FIGS. 3A and 3B , each of the lower right and left sides of the cushion panel  14  will be attached to a corresponding portion of the right and left front panels  12   a,    12   b  by right and left side zippers  30 . Other conventional two-part fabric closure elements (e.g., buttons/button holes, hook-and-loop fabric fasteners, snaps and the like) may be employed in lieu of or in addition to the zippers  30 . As shown in  FIG. 3B , the right side zipper  30  is partially unzipped so as to reveal an interior back panel  32  that is covered by the cushion back panel  14  when the latter is attached to the front side panels  12   a,    12   b,  but is exposed to form the back of the jacket  10  when the cushion back panel  14  is rolled into a neck and head support pillow in the manner to be described further below. 
     The back cushion panel  14  may be provided with right and left channel sections  14   a,    14   b  and a central non-channeled section  14   c  positioned centrally between each of the channel sections  14   a,    14   b.  In the embodiment depicted, the right and left channel sections  14   a,    14   b  are each comprised generally of generally horizontally disposed pillow channels (a representative few of which are identified in the drawings by reference numerals  15   a,    15   b ) formed of a soft and resilient material, e.g., down-filled tubular channels. The central section  14   c  on the other hand may itself be formed of a soft and resilient fabric material of sufficient thickness to provide comfort when rolled into the head/neck supporting configuration. 
     As is shown in an exemplary manner by  FIG. 4 , each of the shoulder regions  18   a,    18   b  includes shoulder patches  40   a,    40   b  that may be positionally snapped to the front panels  12   a,    12   b  so as to cover the terminal ends  50   a,    52   a  of the right and left pull cords  50 ,  52 , respectively, but then unsnapped to reveal such terminal ends  50   a,    52   a.  The pull cords  50 ,  52  extend from the terminal ends  50   a,    52   a  at the respective shoulder regions  18   a,    18   b  and are attached to the respective cushion panels  14   a,    14   b  at or near the lower hem  10   a  of the jacket. In this regard, the cords  50 ,  52  may be laced though separated eyelets  50   b,    52   b  formed in the cushion panels  14   a,    14   b  to thereby allow each cord  50 ,  52  to be drawn therethrough when a pull force is exerted on the terminal ends  50   a,    52   a.  Although the cords  50 ,  52  are depicted in the Figures as being exposed, they could of course be place within appropriate fabric tunnels (not shown) so as to be visibly hidden. 
     As is shown in  FIGS. 5A-5C , when the wearer exerts a pull force on the terminal ends  50   a,    52   a  of each cord  50 ,  52 , the cords  50 ,  52  will cause the cushion back panel  14  to be rolled onto itself forming a cushion roll  60  that can be adjustably positioned about the wearers neck in the manner of a horseshoe shaped pillow roll. If desired, fasteners may be provided so as to positionally fasten the right and left end regions of the cushion roll  60  to the upper right and left front panels  12   a,    12   b,  respectively. It will be appreciated that the central non-channeled region  14   c  will similarly be rolled onto itself and thereby be directly positioned at the back neck region of the wearer providing comfort at such region while the lateral ends of the cushion roll provide positional stability. 
     When it is desired to return the cushion roll to its original unrolled condition, the wearer need only allow the cushion roll to unroll such that the back cushion panel  14  assumes its original substantially flat condition, whereupon the lateral sides thereof may be reattached to the front panels  12   a,    12   b  via zippers  30 . 
     Other comfort features may also be provided in the jacket  10 . For example, heating elements  70   a,    70   b  may be embedded in the fabric forming each of the pockets  22   a,    22   b  as schematically depicted in  FIG. 1 . A hidden activation switch  72  operatively connects the heating elements  70   a,    70   b  with a source of electrical energy (e.g., rechargeable or replaceable batteries, not shown). Thus, activation of the switch  72  will allow the pockets  22   a,    22   b  to function as hand warmers. Other heating elements could also be embedded through the various components of the jacket  10 , including for example the right and left front panels  12   a,    12   b,  right and left sleeves  16   a,    16   b  and the interior back panel  32 . A suitable controller may be associated with the switch  72  so as to deactivate the heating elements after a predetermined time has elapsed. In addition, the jacket  10  may be provided with a fixed or removable hood  74  (see  FIGS. 5A-5C ) that itself may be provided with heating elements in the manner described hereinabove. 
     While reference is made to a particular embodiment of the invention, various modifications within the skill of those in the art may be envisioned. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope thereof.