Abstract:
A method for stiffening a headgear utilizes knitted thermo polyester linings made of threads consisting of fine and soft filaments extracted from thermo polyester pellets to sew with ready-cut fabrics to form a headgear. Subsequently, the headgear is heated by a mold such that the fiber of the linings will be appropriately stiffened, thereby shaping an upstanding and neat headgear as desired.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Technical Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a method for stiffening a headgear, which is full of aesthetic feelings with a fixed shape. Besides, as the stiffened linings are processed without adding any harmful chemical, such as HCHO, the method of the invention is especially applicable to the manufacturing of headgears.  
         [0003]     2. Description of the Prior Art  
         [0004]     A conventional headgear is basically composed of a crown and a hard peak. As the front side of the crown is the most apparent portion, whether or not the headgear is neat, upstanding and good looking depends on the expression of the front side of the crown.  
         [0005]     In the manufacturing of headgear of the prior art, in order to make the headgear look upstanding and neat, the crown is adhered with linings of various kinds. Since it is required that the adhered linings must have certain rigidity, resin is generally used as an adhesive in this respect. As shown in  FIG. 1 , in the manufacturing of headgear of the prior art, a lining  10  is applied with an adhesive of resin  11 , such that the resin  11  is infiltrated into the fiber of the lining  10 . Upon being baked by a heating device, the lining  10  along with the resin  11  will dry out and becomes a hardened board. The hardened lining  12  is then integrally adhered to and sewn with a ready-cut fabric  13  to form a front piece of the crown, which is subsequently sewn to the front side of the crown, such that the headgear will look upstanding and neat.  
         [0006]     However, there exists a disadvantage in the above-mentioned headgear process, i.e. heating the resin adhesive will generate HCHO which, being a colorless and easily melted irritating gas, is harmful to human body, since it can be absorbed by human through aspiratory system, and the solvent of HCHO, formalin, will be absorbed through digestive system. Generally, formalin, a 35%-40% HCHO solvent, is used as an antiseptic for soaking medical sections and personal/animal specimens. HCHO is definitely harmful to human body, since it can enter human body to connect with amine of protein, and cause alteration of the protein, thereby disturbing the metabolism of cells and seriously destroying cell organization. According to international reports, when formalin has a density exceeding 0.12 mg/m3, it will easily cause asthma in children. Therefore, HCHO has been announced by IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) as a suspectable carcinogen. In view of the above, headgears composed of heated resin might cause diseases to the users after long-term use.  
         [0007]     In addition, infiltrating resin into the fabric will make the fabric unventilated, rendering the user feel hot and constantly sweat.  
         [0008]     Accordingly, the inventor has disclosed a method for stiffening a headgear, which would not generate HCHO during process, and can produce a headgear of upstanding and neat shape for safely used by the consumers.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for stiffening a headgear which can have an upstanding and neat shape.  
         [0010]     The secondary object of the invention is to provide a method for stiffening a headgear, in which the linings of the headgear can be stiffened without the application of a heated resin, thus avoiding the occurrence of any poisoned material such as HCHO and allowing the user to wear the headgear more safely.  
         [0011]     A further object of the invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a headgear which has better ventilation.  
         [0012]     In addition, in view of the characteristic that thermo setting polyester material will commence softening at a temperature of around 80° C. and become melted at around 100° C., the soft and fine fiber can be melted and then cooled to form a relatively thick and hard material, thereby allowing the headgear to have a stiffening effect. Whereas general polyester can only be melted at a higher temperature of 280° C.; therefore, the thermo setting polyester is comparatively applicable to the headgear that requires a stiffening appearance.  
         [0013]     To obtain the above objects, the invention utilizes the knitted thermo polyester linings made of threads consisting of fine and soft filaments extracted from thermo polyester pellets to sew with the ready-cut fabrics, and then combined with the peak and the sweatband to form a headgear. Subsequently, the headgear together with linings is heated by a mold, thereby shaping an upstanding and neat headgear.  
         [0014]     The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts. Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]      FIG. 1  shows applying a resin on the crown fabric according to the prior art.  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  shows sewing the hardened lining with the ready-cut fabric according to the prior art.  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  shows the process of sewing to combine two ready-cut fabrics according to the present invention.  
         [0018]      FIG. 4  is an exploded view of the front piece of the crown according to the invention.  
         [0019]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the front piece of the crown.  
         [0020]      FIG. 6  is a bottom view of the headgear made according to the invention.  
         [0021]      FIG. 7  shows the process of heating to stiffen the linings according to the invention.  
         [0022]      FIG. 8  shows the process of another embodiment according to the invention.  
         [0023]      FIG. 9  is a bottom view of the headgear made according to another embodiment of the invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0024]     The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.  
         [0025]     As shown in FIGS.  3  to  5 , in the process of the present invention, two ready-cut fabrics  20  are sewn together via a needle  30  and threads  31  to form a front piece  21  of a crown. While the threads  31  are thermo setting polyester threads made from fine and soft filaments extracted from thermo polyester pellets, the linings are in form of a soft material. After the linings  40  are sewn together with the front piece  21 , they are further sewn with a peak  41  and a sweatband  41  to form a headgear  50  shape (as shown in  FIG. 6 ). Still, the linings  40  at the inner side of the front piece  21  are soft and cannot make the headgear look upstanding and neat. As such, an additional process for stiffening the headgear  50  is further required.  
         [0026]     As shown in  FIG. 7 , as the linings are formed by thermo polyester filaments, it is necessary to apply a heating process to obtain an appropriate rigidity. Such heating process requires a mold  60 , which is provided with a casing having pluralities of steam outlets  61  and steam to be released from the outlets  61 . The headgear  50  is disposed on the top of the mold  60 , such that the linings  40  can be heated by the released steam and set by the mold  60 . The temperature of the steam will make the thermo polyester linings  40  gradually stiffened without generating a poisoned material such as HCHO, and therefore allow the user to wear the headgear more safely.  
         [0027]     Referring to  FIG. 8 , showing another embodiment of the invention, each of the ready-cut fabrics  20  can be sewn together with each of the linings  40  and subsequently processed according to the procedures as mentioned above to make the linings  40  stiffened, thereby obtaining an upstanding and neat headgear.  
         [0028]     In a further embodiment of the invention, the linings  40  can be sewn together to form a crown shape, and integrally sewn with the crown at the peripheral edge of the crown to form a full lining inside of the crown before the sweatband is sewn to the crown.  
         [0029]     In view of the above, the method for stiffening a headgear according to the invention has the following advantages:  
         [0030]     1. As the linings are not applied with a heated resin adhesive, no poisoned material such as HCHO will be generated to do harm to the user&#39;s health.  
         [0031]     2. Before the headgear enters a stiffening process, the linings maintain in a soft condition, which can permit the sewing process easily proceeded, thus speeding the production.  
         [0032]     3. As the headgear is heated to stiffen and set the linings right before it is out of the factory gate, it can stay in the most upstanding status, eliminating transformation during the sewing process and in-factory conveyance.  
         [0033]     4. The linings made according to the invention have excellent ventilation and can make the user feel dry and comfortable.  
         [0034]     Concluded above, the invention discloses a method for stiffening a headgear, which can eliminate the disadvantages existing in the prior art that uses a heated resin as an adhesive. The invention further provides a manufacture method which can simplify the process, speed the manufacture and make the headgear more upstanding and neat.  
         [0035]     It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or two or more together may also find a useful application in other types of methods differing from the type described above.  
         [0036]     While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spirit of the present invention.