Interlocking apparel closures

Abstract

The interlocking apparel closures for closing slits or plackets in clothing have a first part attachable to one side of the placket (such as a collar, cuff, pocket, pants flies, skirts, etc.), the first part having at least one pair of spaced apart, parallel rails, each rail terminating in a bead lip, the bead lips opposing each other and narrowing the mouth of the channel defined by the parallel rails. The interlocking apparel closures have a second part attachable to the opposite side of the placket opening, the second part having at least one rail terminating in a bead head, the bead head being insertable between the bead lips of the first part to form an interlocking apparel closure. In use, the second part is pressed or snapped into the first part to close the placket.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/192,548, filed Mar. 28, 2000.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to apparel closures for holding parts of apparel together, and providing designs and methods for general applications wherever an item of apparel or a part thereof has an opening or placket, such as a collar, waist, cuff or pocket.

[0004] 2. Description of Related Art

[0005] The ability to close openings of apparel so as to facilitate the donning and doffing of items of apparel is well known. Further, closure devices for pockets and cuffs are also known. However, such devices require an external element (e.g., zipper pull) that may be aesthetically displeasing in appearance. On the other hand, many of these types of closures are bulky or weighty, even when aesthetically appealing.

[0006] U.S. Pat. No. 668,401, issued Feb. 19, 1901 to Brown, discloses a garment clasp for holding the placket of a skirt closed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,440, issued Mar. 31, 1981 to McGowan, discloses a garment system for the physically handicapped having a plurality of separable seams joined by Velcro® or the like. U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,126, issued Jul. 23, 1991 to Wruck et al., discloses a set of leg warmers that includes a zipper for wearing over the pants to prevent the ingress of snow, water, or other moisture. U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,684, issued Dec. 5, 1995 to Casale, discloses a convertible sports cap. U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,087, issued Mar. 18, 1997 to Adkins, discloses a separable garment used for exposing portions of the human body. U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,917, issued Apr. 22, 1997 to Howsden, discloses an infant garment/sack for enclosing an infant's feet having a separable opening for getting an infant in and out of the sack. British Patent Document No. 2,055,037A, published Feb. 25, 1981, discloses a safety jacket having a separable hook and pile type fastener.

[0007] In non-analogous endeavors, several patents teach closures used in food storage. These closures generally provide a hermetic seal so as to preserve the foods enclosed therein. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,143, issued Apr. 16, 1991 to Herrington, discloses a rolling action zipper and slider for a thermoplastic bag. U.S. Pat. No. 5,664,296, issued Sep. 9, 1997 to May, discloses a closure arrangement for polymeric bags. U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,750, issued Aug. 18, 1992 to Gundlach et al., discloses a reclosable bag zipper having two interlockable rib and groove profiles. U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,094, issued Apr. 4, 1995 to Tomic, discloses a reclosable zipper for a plastic bag having notches for producing tactile feedback. U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,884, issued Apr. 30, 1996 to Bruno et al., discloses a reclosable plastic bag having easy opening and reclosing profiles. U.S. Pat. No. RE. 24,613, issued Mar. 3, 1959 to Hageltorn, discloses an interlocking plastic strip.

[0008] None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Garments have at least one panel of material that includes a placket or slit therein. The placket allows a body part to ingress or egress easily. Examples of plackets are cuffs, flies, and pullover collars. The placket generally has a first side and a second side forming an opening. Oftentimes when wearing a garment, the opening, such as a pocket, may be inverted, allowing the contents of the pocket to fall out. In order to keep the contents in the pocket, a closure is needed. The closure permits selective closing of the placket.

[0010] The interlocking apparel closures have a first part attachable to one side of the placket (such as a collar, cuff, pocket, pants flies, skirts, etc.), the first part having at least one pair of spaced apart, parallel rails, each rail terminating in a bead lip, the bead lips opposing each other and narrowing the mouth of the channel defined by the parallel rails. The interlocking apparel closures have a second part attachable to the opposite side of the placket opening, the second part having at least one rail terminating in a bead head, the bead head being insertable between the bead lips of the first part to form an interlocking apparel closure. In use, the second part is pressed or snapped into the first part to close the placket.

[0011] Accordingly, it is a principal object of the invention to provide a placket closure for garments.

[0012] It is another object of the invention to provide a placket closure for garments for selectively opening and closing the placket.

[0013] It is a further object of the invention to provide a placket closure of an interlocking zipper type for selectively opening and closing the placket.

[0014] Still another object of the invention is to provide a placket closure of an interlocking zipper type having press to zip and pull to unzip ease of use.

[0015] It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof in an apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.

[0016] These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] FIG. 1 is an environmental, perspective view of an interlocking apparel closure according to the present invention.

[0018] FIG. 2 is an exploded, fragmented, perspective view of an interlocking closure according to the present invention.

[0019] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a first embodiment of the interlocking closure according to the present invention.

[0020] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a second embodiment of the interlocking closure according to the present invention.

[0021] FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a third embodiment of the interlocking closure according to the present invention.

[0022] FIG. 6 is a front view of a prior art closure device.

[0023] FIG. 7 is an exploded section view of another prior art closure device.

[0024] Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the attached drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0025] The present invention is an interlocking apparel closure for garment plackets. In order for the placket to be generally aesthetically appealing, the placket closure should remain relatively hidden or blended in with the fabric. FIG. 6 shows a prior art placket closure 600 in a leg warmer 610 for pants. The placket closure 600 includes a bulky zipper 612. This zipper 612 has pull tabs 614 that dangle, and may cause irritating ‘pinging’ sounds while the wearer moves. The zipper 612 may be metallic or non-metallic, in any event, the presence of this type of zipper closure 612 is generally not acceptable or aesthetically appealing.

[0026] FIG. 7 shows a conventional plastic bag zipper closure 700 for producing a hermetic seal protecting the contents of the bag (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 5,403,094) from the atmosphere. This type of closure 700 has a plurality of hooking elements 710 and a ball 712 and socket 714 type fluid seal requiring very tight tolerances in order to ensure that fluid matter can not enter or exit the plastic bag. These types of fluid tight seals are typically used in foodstuff storage, among many other uses.

[0027] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the present invention is shown as placket 100 closures for garments. Plackets 100, or slits in a garment, are commonly found in most pieces of apparel, and are used primarily to allow body parts 10 to ingress and egress from the clothing 20 with ease. The present invention provides the common garment plackets 100 with an effective and sure closure that is also aesthetically appealing. As seen in FIG. 1, the collar placket 12, the shirt pocket placket 14, the pant pocket placket 16, and the pant fly placket 18 are shown for illustrative and discussion purposes, the present invention being useful in any (male, female, or unisex) garment having a placket.

[0028] As seen in FIG. 2, the placket closure of the instant invention is an interlocking device that holds the two sides 110A,110B of the placket together, in most instances without being seen. The interlocking closure is very similar to the standard foodstuffs plastic storage bags that have the zipper like closures 700 (as shown in FIG. 7). The closure is attached to the sides 110A,110B of the placket 100 by any conventional tailoring techniques. By way of example, the closure is attached to the garment by stitching 112. It is understood that any other type of attachment is also useful in the preferred embodiments, such as adhesives, bonding, and in the case of synthetic materials, molding.

[0029] The structure of the closure is best seen in conjunction with the embodiments of FIGS. 3-5. In FIG. 3, the preferred embodiment has part of the closure on one side of the placket formed as at least two rails 120 that are parallel and spaced apart. The distance of the spacing between the rails is not critical, provided that the opposing side of the closure has an appropriate mating dimension (as discussed hereafter). Each rail of the pair of rails 120 has a bead lip 122 that is opposed to the bead lip 122 of the other rail 120. The rails 120 with the bead lips 122 form a preferably diamond-shaped channel 126 therebetween.

[0030] On the other side of the placket, at least one rail 120′ is provided. This one rail 120′ has a bead head 128 that is so dimensioned to substantially mirror the channel 126 by complimenting the pair of bead lips 122 of the closure, e.g., diamond-shaped, as shown in FIG. 3. The bead head 128, when pressed into the channel 126, forms the interlocking engagement to secure the closure in a closed state. Once in the closed state, pulling either side of the placket will cause the bead head 128 to disengage from the interlocked closed state and return to an open state. FIG. 3 shows the bead lips 122 as semi-diamond shaped elements, and the bead head 128 as a diamond shaped element. Although the semi-diamond shaped elements are shown on the two rails 120, it is well within the scope of this invention to have a plurality of pairs of rails 120 and a corresponding number of bead heads 128 on respective rails 120′. In addition, it is also within the scope of the invention to provide both sides of the placket with a matching number of rails 120 being aligned such that each successive pair of bead heads 128 forms the channel 126 for the unitary opposing bead head 128 on the other side 110A,110B of the placket.

[0031] FIG. 4 shows another preferred embodiment of the closure. In this embodiment the rails 130 on either side of the placket 110A,110B have a circular bead head 134. In this arrangement, it is easier to manufacture and to produce multiple rails 130 and channels 136 in order to establish the interlocking closure. FIG. 5 shows yet another embodiment in which the bead heads 144 are rectangular. FIG. 5, like FIG. 4, may be easier to manufacture and provide the multiple parallel rails 140 and channels 146 for establishing the interlocking placket closure.

[0032] The need to have the interlocking closure to make a hermetic seal is not commonly necessary for general apparel; however, there may be a form of clothing, e.g., swim wear, that may require a hermetic type seal on a pocket placket. Insofar as the hermetic seal is not a critical feature, the interlocking closure for garment plackets 100 provides an inexpensive, aesthetically appealing addition to the clothing industry. The ease of use also makes the closure a great incentive to foster good grooming habits in children. Further, the rails 120,120′,130,140 may be color coordinated to match the garment as well as making sure the interlock is correctly aligned.

[0033] It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A placket closure comprising:

a first member having at least one pair of spaced apart, parallel rails, each rail having a bead lip; and

a second member having at least one rail having a bead head, the bead head being positionable between the bead lips of said first member in order to form an interlocking engagement; and

means for attaching said first member and said second member to respective sides of a garment placket;

whereby said first member and said second member provide the placket with a releasable closure for opening and closing the placket.

2. The placket closure according to

claim 1, wherein said bead head has a diamond shaped cross-section.

3. The placket closure according to

claim 2, wherein each of the bead lips has a semi-diamond shaped cross-section, said pair of rails defining a diamond-shaped channel.

4. The placket closure according to

claim 1, wherein said bead head has a circular shaped cross-section.

5. The placket closure according to

claim 4, wherein each said bead lip has a circular shaped cross-section.

6. The placket closure according to

claim 1, wherein said bead head has a rectangular shaped cross-section.

7. The placket closure according to

claim 6, wherein each said bead lip has a rectangular shaped cross-section.

8. A garment comprising:

at least one panel of material having a placket, the placket having a first side and a second side;

a first member having at least one pair of spaced apart, parallel rails, each rail having a bead lip; and

a second member having at least one rail having a bead head, the bead head being positionable between the bead lips of said first member in order to form an interlocking engagement; and

means for attaching said first member and said second member to the first side and the second side of the placket, respectively;

whereby said first member and said second member provide the placket with a releasable closure for opening and closing the placket.

9. The garment according to

claim 8, wherein said bead head has a diamond shaped cross-section.

10. The garment according to

claim 9, wherein each said bead lip has a semi-diamond shaped cross-section.

11. The garment according to

claim 8, wherein said bead head has a circular shaped cross-section.

12. The garment according to

claim 11, wherein each said bead lip has a circular shaped cross-section.

13. The garment according to

claim 8, wherein said bead head has a rectangular shaped cross-section.

14. The garment according to

claim 13, wherein each said bead lip has a rectangular shaped cross-section.

15. The garment according to

claim 8, wherein said panel of material having said placket forming a portion of clothing is selected from the group consisting of pull over collars, pants flies, sleeve cuffs, skirt flies, dress flies, and pockets.