Abstract:
The invention comprises a pair of locking devices where each locking device consists of two separate pieces. One piece of the locking device slides inside the other which prevents them from being pulled apart. Each piece can be attached to both the panel and the garment by sewing or by bonded with an adhesive. The panel, which can also be “snapped on” a garment, appears as a permanent part of the garment, not as an add on to the garment. The locking devices are made of yieldable, flexible material which bends easily for comfort of the user, and slide together very easily. In addition, as the pieces of the locking devices can not be pulled apart, the panel of material can not separate from the garment when the user&#39;s knees and/or elbows bend. The locking devices can be made of plastic which can be covered with fabric which can be washed and dried.

Description:
REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/302,947 filed on Feb. 9, 2010, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates generally to an apparatus and method for overlaying a panel of material onto a garment and more specifically to removably attaching a panel of material of a desired design and/or color to a garment. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    Attaching patches, badges etc. to jackets, coats and casual clothes is known in the prior art. More specifically, by way of example U.S. Pat. No. 7,430,975 to Kronenberger relates to removing a first adornment; and providing a second adornment so that the article has a second different appearance. 
         [0006]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,883,449 to Burrell relates to applying appliques to create garments having a vintage appearance by using appliques having perforations and pull tabs for removing portions of the applique to create a design. 
         [0007]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,963 to Loeffelholz relates to detachably securing emblems, or the like to articles of clothing using a magnet and a plate of ferromagnetic material. The magnet is attached to the clothing and a ferromagnetic material is embedded in or attached to an emblem. The emblem is attached to the clothing by placing it over the magnet in the clothing. 
         [0008]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,051 to Counter relates to a pair of elongated flaps on the back portion of a garment for retaining a patch to the garment. The flap includes opposed edges and a strip of hook and loop material. 
         [0009]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,267 to Wallace relates to panels having strips of Velcro which releasably attach the panels to each other and to the garment. 
         [0010]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,461 to Wilmers relates to a display panel having a first display section having first indicia displayed thereon and a second display section having second indicia displayed thereon. A cover panel is provided for covering the second display section and is movable between a first position wherein a pocket is defined to contain items for ready access and a second position wherein the second indicia is revealed. 
         [0011]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,516 to Baxter relates to a coat jacket having an outwardly facing back portion, across the shoulder and waist sections and down the sides of which a plurality of adhesively securing fabric strips are attached to form a frame. Insignias, pictorial representations, etc. are provided which have adhesively securing fabric strips along their edges, to mate with the coat jacket frame to provide a jacket with a detachable insignia. 
         [0012]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,991,233 to Hall relates to a shirt having first and second indicia on the front panel wherein the indicia are related to one another in meaning. The second indicia is covered by a flap which is readily movable by a person other than the wearer of the shirt to expose the second indicia. 
         [0013]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,214 to Cohen relates to a jacket having vent panels attached to front and rear panels which create accessible, upwardly extending vent panel pockets. Inside each vent panel pocket is a detachable flexible informational display panel which can be stored inside each pocket and hidden from view. When the situation arises, the flexible informational display panel can be repositioned and extended downwardly below the vent panel pocket and used to display information. 
         [0014]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,613 to Levin relates to a garment having a clear, flexible plastic sheet window. One strip of a hook-and-loop fastener is affixed to the perimeter of the window. The second strip of the hook-and-loop fastener is affixed to the flat panel of the garment in a pattern matching that of the first member on the window. Any sheet or card bearing indicia may be removably displayed on the garment by simply laying it on the garment within the space enclosed by the second member of the fastener and covering it with the window which removably seals it in place when the two members of the hook-and-loop fastener are pressed together. 
         [0015]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,277,848 to Boehland relates to an athletic jersey having a body portion of a first color. A color changing panel is permanently attached to the outside of body portion. A panel is folded over with an upper half covering the lower half to give the jersey a uniform color appearance. When the panel is unfolded and placed in a spread-out condition on the body portion, the side of the panel which is exposed has a second color that is different from the color of the body portion to change the color of the jersey. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0016]    In an embodiment, the invention comprises a pair of locking devices where each locking device consists of two separate pieces. One piece of the locking device slides inside the other which prevents them from being pulled apart and locks the two together. Each piece can be attached to both the panel and the garment by sewing or, if desired, by bonded with an adhesive. In another embodiment of the invention snaps can be attached to a garment and to a panel of material to allow the panel of material to be “snapped on” the garment. The panel, when attached to a garment, appears as a permanent part of the garment, not as an add on to the garment. The locking devices are made of yieldable material which is flexible, bends easily for comfort of the user, and slide together very easily. In addition, as the pieces of the locking devices can not be pulled apart, the panel of material can not separate from the garment when the user&#39;s knees and/or elbows bend. The locking devices can be made of plastic which, if desired, can be covered with fabric which can be washed and dried. 
         [0017]    It is understood that the pairs of locking devices here disclosed in not limited to removably attaching one or more panels of material to a garment, but can be used for removably attaching panels of material to multiple articles of manufacture such as, for example but not limited to awnings, tents, point of purchase displays, back packs, golf bags, etc. 
         [0018]    In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is disclosed a method for removably attaching a panel of material to a garment comprising;
       attaching a first channel member to a garment;   attaching a second channel member to the garment where the second channel member is located parallel to and spaced apart from the first channel member;   attaching a third channel member to a first edge of a panel of material;   attaching a fourth channel member to a second edge of the panel of material;   wherein the first channel member on the garment is adapted to slidably engage the third channel member on the panel of material, and the second channel member on the garment is adapted to slidably engage the fourth channel member on the panel of material to removably attach the panel of material to the garment.       
 
         [0024]    The more important features of the invention have thus been outlined in order that the more detailed description that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may better be appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter and will form the subject matter of the claims that follow. 
         [0025]    Before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. 
         [0026]    As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
         [0027]    The foregoing has outlined, rather broadly, the preferred feature of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the invention that follows. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter that form the subject of the claims of the invention. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they can readily use the disclosed conception and specific embodiment as a basis for designing or modifying other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention and that such other structures do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0028]    Other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claim, and the accompanying drawings in which similar elements are given similar reference numerals. 
           [0029]      FIG. 1  is a view of two channel members that are attached to and extend along the length of a pants leg for slidably receiving mating channel members attached to a panel of material in accordance with the principles of the invention; 
           [0030]      FIG. 2  is a sectional view of one of a pair of male channel members (where the male member on the right is similar to the male member on the left and, therefore, is not shown) permanently attached to a garment and which are adapted to be removably attached to female channel members which are permanently attached to a panel of material in accordance with the principles of the invention; 
           [0031]      FIG. 2A  is a sectional view of another embodiment of attaching a channel member to a garment; 
           [0032]      FIG. 3  is a sectional view of a pair of female channel members (where the female member on the right is similar to the female member on the left and, therefore, is not shown) permanently attached to a garment where the female members are adapted to be removably attached to male members which are permanently attached to a panel of material in accordance with the principles of the invention; 
           [0033]      FIG. 4  is a sectional view of the left male channel member of a pair of left and right male members of  FIG. 2  (where the male member on the right is similar to the male member on the left and, therefore, is not shown) permanently attached to both a garment and to female channel members which are permanently attached to a panel of material where the female channel members can only be removed from the male members by sliding the male channel out of an end of the female channel member in accordance with the principles of the invention; 
           [0034]      FIG. 5  is a sectional view of the left female channel member of a pair of left and right female channel members of  FIG. 3  (where the female channel member on the right is similar to the female channel member on the left and, therefore, is not shown) permanently attached to both a garment and to female channel members which are permanently attached to male channel members which are permanently attached to a panel of material where the male channel members can only be removed by sliding the male channel member out of an end of the female channel member in accordance with the principles of the invention; 
           [0035]      FIG. 6 , is a sectional view of one of a pair of female channel members (where the female member on the right is similar to the female member on the left and, therefore, is not shown) which are permanently attached to a garment and male members (where the male member on the right is similar to the male member on the left and, therefore, is not shown) which are permanently attached to the side edges of a panel of material. The male members are adapted to be slidably attached to the two female members and the male members can only be moved in one direction such as up relative to the female members in accordance with the principles of the invention; 
           [0036]      FIG. 7  is a bottom perspective view of a panel of material having a female channel member along each side edge adapted to slidably engage male channel members which are permanently attached to a garment such as, for example, a pants leg of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0037]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the panel of material having female channel members along each side edge of  FIG. 7  being slidable attached to male channel members permanently attached to a garment such as the pants leg of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0038]      FIG. 9A  is a side perspective view of a female channel member attached to a panel of material; 
           [0039]      FIG. 9B  is an end perspective view of a male channel member attached to a panel of material; 
           [0040]      FIG. 9C  is a side perspective view of the male channel member of  FIG. 9B  attached to the female channel member of  FIG. 9A  where the male channel member can only be removed by sliding the male channel member out of an end of the female channel member in accordance with the principles of the invention; 
           [0041]      FIG. 10A  is a front view of a turtle neck sweater having panels of material removably attached to the front of the sweater and along the sleeves of the sweated; and 
           [0042]      FIG. 10B  is a rear view of the turtle neck sweater of  FIG. 10A  showing a panel of material which is removably attached to the back of the sweater. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0043]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , there is disclosed a view of two male or female channel members  10  that extend along the length of a garment pants leg  12  for slidably receiving mating female or male channel members which are attached to a panel of material in accordance with the principles of the invention. More specifically, a first male channel member  14  and a second male channel member  16  each extend from the bottom edge  18  of the pants leg  12  to the top  20  of the waist. The male member can be a welt edge of fabric or a small diameter rod of flexible plastic, or a cord such as mason cord encased or surrounded by one edge of the fabric, where the other edge of the fabric is sewn to the pants leg. The cross sectional shape of the small diameter rod can be diamond shape, square, round, oval, etc. 
         [0044]    It is understood that in each embodiment here disclosed the male channel member and the female channel member, regardless of its composition or material, can be attached to a strip of material such as fabric which can then be sewn to a garment. 
         [0045]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , there is shown a sectional view of male channel member  14  (where the male channel member  16  on the right is similar to male member  14  on the left and, therefore, is not shown) is permanently attached to a garment where the male channel members are adapted to be removably attached to female channel members which are permanently attached to a panel of material such as, for example, fabric in accordance with the principles of the invention. Each male member can be a cylinder of welt fabric, a rod of flexible plastic, or a cord  22  wrapped or encased along one edge  24  of a strip of fabric  26  that is sewn  28  to itself. If desired, the strip of fabric can be sewn twice to prevent the edge from unraveling. The other edge  30  of the strip of fabric  26  is doubled back upon itself and sewn  32  to the pants leg. The male channel member  16  is similar to male channel member  14  and, therefore, the description of male channel member  14  is not repeated in the interest of brevity. 
         [0046]    Referring to  FIG. 2A , there is shown a sectional view of another embodiment of attaching male channel members  14 ,  16  to the pants leg of a garment. In this embodiment the material or fabric of the pants leg is doubled over itself to form a loop  34  which is located around the rod or cord  22  and is sewn twice to provide a throat section  36  which can be slidably located in a slot of a female channel member 
         [0047]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , there is shown a sectional view of one of a pair of female channel members (where the female member on the right is similar to the female member on the left and, therefore, is not shown) permanently attached to a garment where the female members are adapted to be removably attached to male members which are permanently attached to a panel of material in accordance with the principles of the invention; One edge  36  of a strip of material  38  is doubled back upon itself and is sewn  40  to the pants leg. The other edge  42  of the strip of material is permanently attached with a strong adhesive such as an epoxy, or by any other means, to a hollow cylinder  44  which has a slot  46  that may extend for the full length of the hollow cylinder. 
         [0048]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , there is shown a sectional view of the male channel members of  FIG. 2  which are permanently attached to a garment are now slidably attached to female members which are permanently attached to a panel of material where the male members can only be removed from the female channel members by sliding the female channel member out of an end of the male channel member. One edge  50  of a strip of material such as fabric which can then be sewn to a panel of material, or the panel of material  48  is permanently attached with a strong adhesive such as an epoxy, or by any other means to hollow cylinder  52  made of a flexible plastic which has a slot  54  that can extend for the full length of the cylinder. The inside diameter of the hollow cylinder  52  is sized to slidably receive rod or cord  22  and the material which surrounds the rod or cord. The slot  54  has a width that is wide enough to slidably receive the double layer of material  56  which extends out from the rod or cord  22 . 
         [0049]    In operation, to attach the panel of material  48  to the pants leg  12 , the bottom end of the rod or cord  22  is inserted into the top end of the hollow cylinder  52 , and the double layer of material  56  is located in the slot  54 . Now, the top end of the hollow cylinder is slid up the rod or cord  22  to the top of the waist of the pants leg and the panel can be locked to the pants with a snap, a strip of Velcro, etc. The rod or cord  22  encased in the material has a diameter that is wider than the width of the slot  54  and, therefore, the panel of material cannot be pulled out of the slot and is locked to the pants leg. If desired, the hollow cylinder can be hidden from view by covering a side of the hollow cylinder with the panel material as shown in  FIG. 4 . In some situations where sever bending, such as right angle bending, may occur, the plastic rod which is encased in fabric can be segmented and the hollow cylinder  52  can be provided with a bendable joint such as an accordion shaped joint. 
         [0050]    Referring to  FIG. 5  there is shown is a sectional view of the female channel members of  FIG. 3  which are permanently attached to a garment such as a pants leg, and are now attached to male members which are permanently attached to a panel of material where the male members can only be removed from either end of the female members in accordance with the principles of the invention. 
         [0051]    One edge  58  of the panel of material  60  is placed around a rod or cord  22  and sewn twice to provide an end which has a diameter that is wider than the width of the slot  46  that extends for the full length of the hollow cylinder  44 . The inside diameter of the hollow cylinder  52  is sized to slidably receive the rod or cord  22  and the material which surrounds the rod, and the slot  54  has a width that is wide enough to slidably receive the double layer of material  58  which extends out from the rod or cord  22 . 
         [0052]    In operation, to attach the panel of material  60  to the pants leg  12 , the top end of the rod or cord  22  is inserted into the bottom end of the hollow cylinder  44 , and the double layer of material  58  is located in the slot  46 . Now, the top end of the covered rod or cord is pulled up along the inside of the hollow cylinder to the top of the waist of the pants leg and the panel can be locked to the pants with a snap, a strip of Velcro, etc. The rod or cord encased in the material has a diameter that is larger than the width of the slot in the hollow cylinder and, therefore, the panel of material cannot be pulled out of the slot and is locked to the pants leg. If desired, the hollow cylinder can be hidden from view by covering a side of the hollow cylinder with the panel material as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
         [0053]    Referring to  FIG. 6 , there is shown a sectional view of one of a pair of female channel members (where the female channel member on the right is similar to the female channel member on the right and, therefore, is not shown) which are permanently attached to a garment and male channel members (where the male channel member on the right is similar to the male channel member on the right and, therefore, is not shown) are permanently attached to the side edges of a panel of material and are adapted to be slidably attached to the two female channel members where the male channel members can only be moved in one direction relative to the female channel members such as up in accordance with the principles of the invention. A female member  70  of plastic which can have a rectangular shape is securely attached to the pants leg  12  of a garment with an adhesive such as epoxy or any other means of attachment, or it can be attached to a strip of fabric which can be sewn to a garment. Member  70  extends from the bottom edge of the pants leg to the top of the waist of the pants. Channel member  70  has a substantially rectangular opening  72  adapted to slidably receive a male channel member  74 . Channel member  74  includes a projection  76  which is slidably coupled to a slot located in the side of member  70 . The slot extends from one end of member  70  to its other end. Projection  76  can attached to an edge of a panel of material with an adhesive, or to a strip of material which can be sewn to a panel of material. Members  70  and  74  are made of a yieldable plastic and channel member  70  includes a pawl which cooperates with a series of wedge shaped indentations on channel member  74  which allows member  74  to move in only one direction, either up or down, relative to member  70 . 
         [0054]    In operation, to attach the panel of material  78  to the pants leg  12 , where the member  74  can only move up relative to member  70 , the top end of member  74  is inserted into the bottom end of member  70 , and the projection  76  is positioned to be located in the slot in member  70 . Now, the top end of member  74  and the panel of material attached to the projection  76  is pulled up to the top of the member  70  which can be at the top of the waist of the pants leg. As member  74  can not move down because of the pawl in member  70 , the panel of material need not be locked to the pants with a snap, or a strip of Velcro. Member  74  is wider than the slot in member  70  and, therefore, the panel of material cannot be pulled out of the slot and the panel of material is locked to the pants leg. 
         [0055]    Referring to  FIG. 7 , there is shown a bottom perspective view of a panel of material  80  having a female channel member  82  permanently attached to each side edge of the panel of material and adapted to slidably engage male channel members which are permanently attached to a garment such as, for example, a pants leg. The female channel member  82  can be a “C” shaped hollow cylinder having a slot  84  that can extend for the full length of the hollow cylinder. 
         [0056]      FIG. 8  is a perspective view of the panel of material having female channel members  82  along each side edge of  FIG. 7  being slidable attached to male channel members  14 ,  16  permanently attached to a garment such as the pants leg  12  of  FIG. 1 . 
         [0057]    In operation, to attach the panel of material  80  to the pants leg  12 , the bottom ends of the male channel members  14 ,  16  are inserted into the top ends of the hollow cylinder female channel members  82  where the material  80  is located in the slot  84 . Now, as the top end  86  of the material is pulled up the female channel members slidably engage the male channel members  14 ,  16  as they move up to the top of the waist of the pants leg where the panel  80  can be locked to the pants with a snap, a strip of Velcro, etc. The female channel members cannot be separated from the male channel members by bending or pulling sideways on the pants leg relative to the panel of material. The panel of material is locked to the pants leg. In some situations where sever bending may occur, the channel members can be made of flexible material, and/or segmented or can be provided with a bendable joint such as an accordion shaped joint. 
         [0058]    Referring to  FIGS. 9A-9C  there is shown a side perspective view of a female channel member attached to a panel of material; an end perspective view of a male channel member attached to a panel of material; and a side perspective view of the male channel member attached to the female channel member where the male channel member can only be removed from the female channel member by sliding the male channel member out of an end of the female channel member. 
         [0059]    One edge of a panel of material  100  is attached to rod  102 , the male channel member, which has a diameter that is wider than the width of the slot  103  that extends for the full length of the hollow cylinder  104 , the female channel member. The inside diameter of the hollow cylinder  104  is sized to slidably receive the rod  102 , and the slot  103  has a width that is wide enough to slidably receive the material  100  which extends out from the rod  1022 . 
         [0060]    In operation, the top end of the rod  102  is inserted into the bottom end of the hollow cylinder  104 , and the material  100  is located in the slot  103 . Now, the top end of the rod is pulled up along the inside of the hollow cylinder to the top of the cylinder. The rod has a diameter that is larger than the width of the slot in the hollow cylinder and, therefore, the panel of material  100  cannot be pulled out of the slot and is locked to the female channel. 
         [0061]    Referring to  FIGS. 10A-B , there is shown a front view of a turtle neck sweater  110  having a panel of material  112  removably attached to the front of the sweater and panels of material  114  along the sleeves of the sweated; and a rear view of the turtle neck sweater showing a panel of material  116  which is removably attached to the back of the sweater. 
         [0062]    In another embodiment of the invention snaps can be attached to a garment and to a panel of material to allow the panel of material to be “snapped on” the garment. 
         [0063]    While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood that the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention and not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obvious modifications or variations are possible in light of the above teachings. The embodiments discussed were chosen and described to provide the best illustration of the principles of the invention and its practical application to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated All such modifications and variations are within the scope of the invention as determined by the appended claims when interpreted in accordance with the breadth to which they are entitled.