Patent ID: 6859938

Claim:
A protective bib, comprising: an expandable collar comprised of a gatherable material having an inner border and an outer border, said inner border forming a neck opening for encircling the neck of a human wearer, said outer border communicating with a flexible hoop, said collar being positioned inside of said flexible hoop such that said collar spans inward of said hoop toward said inner border to terminate at said neck opening, said hoop including a memory quality for allowing the expansion and contraction of said hoop and collar, and wherein upon being positioned upon a wearer's neck in a contracted state, said hoop is separated a distance from the wearer's neck by said collar now lying in a gathered fashion about the neck of the wearer, said inner border of said collar being tensioned snugly about the wearer's neck by said hoop, said hoop further comprising a preformed curved front section along said hoop's horizontal axis and a preformed side section curving rearward of said front section along said hoop's vertical axis, said front and side sections causing said hoop to lie fittingly about a wearer's shoulders and chest.