Headgear
A piece of headgear comprising a headband portion and a bill portion connected to the headband portion, the bill portion having a top side, a bottom side and an edge or brim, the bill portion have a composite construction that includes a shape imparting core section, the core section having a top surface and a bottom surface, a layer of flexible plastic over the top surface of the core section, the plastic layer having a specular gloss appearance.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to headgear and, more particularly, to headgear comprised of a bill portion and a headband portion, wherein the bill portion is of an aesthetically pleasing construction.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Baseball caps, visors, and headgear that have bills are extremely popular. For example, baseball caps bearing school names, emblems, logos and mascots are worn not only by athletic teams representing their respective schools but by students, alumni and fans supporting the teams at those schools. In the field of advertisement and business, baseball caps and the like bearing the name or logo of a company are worn not only by workers of a particular company but are freely and willingly given out to customers as a form of advertisement. Yet still, baseball caps, sun visors and other similar headgear with bills serve a functional purpose of protecting the head, and part of the face from excessive exposure to the sun.
Because of their enormous popularity, their functional characteristics, e.g., advertising, reducing sun exposure, etc., headgear of the type described above, particularly baseball caps, are designed as aesthetically pleasing as possible so as to be more eye catching and in the case of advertising, to convey the best possible image of the entity whose logo, name or other identifying indicia is on the hat.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn a preferred aspect, the present invention is directed to a piece of headgear having a headband portion and a bill portion connected to the headband portion. The bill portion has a top side, a bottom side and an edge or brim and is of a composite construction. The composite construction of the bill portion includes a shape imparting core section, the core section having a top surface and a bottom surface. There is a layer of a flexible plastic over the top surface of the core section, the plastic layer having a specular gloss appearance.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The term, headgear, as used herein, is intended to include any form of hat, cap, visor or the like, which includes a bill portion and a headband portion, the headband portion, as is well known encircling the head of the wearer. Thus, the invention contemplates baseball caps, visors, tams that have a bill and any other type of headgear that possesses a bill portion.
Referring first to
Referring now to
It will be understood that the bill portion and the headband portion are connected together in the conventional fashion well known to those skilled in the art.
The present invention is primarily directed to the construction of the bill portion on the headgear, one embodiment of which is depicted in
With reference to
With reference to
Turning now to
With reference to
In a similar fashion with respect to the embodiment shown in
The core section of the bill portion of the headgear of the present invention can be formed of a variety of materials that are shape imparting in the sense that they have the necessary stiffiess to retain a given shape whether it be essentially flat or arched. For example, as shown in
The flexible plastic layer that covers the top surface of the core section and optionally the bottom surface of the core section will be of a plastic material that has a specular gloss appearance. The word “specular” means mirror-like and “specular gloss” is defined as the perception by an observer of the mirror-like appearance of a surface. In actuality, this appearance cannot be easily quantified and typically all that can be done by available instrumentation is to measure the amount of incident light that is reflected at a defined angle (or range of angles). As is well known, in practice only a perfect mirror will give rise to a precise angle of reflection, whereas, a paint film and plastics of the type under consideration will tend to scatter the incident light and reflect it over a range of angles. Specular gloss is quantified, to the extent it can be, by measuring the amount of light reflected from the sample surface and comparing it with the amount of light reflected when a polished black glass calibration standard is measured under the same conditions. The glass standard is typically assigned a value of 100 gloss units and in practice, the highest attainable gloss value for non-metallic paint surfaces tends towards 95 gloss units. Accordingly, any surface that reflects more light than the black glass standard will produce a gloss meter reading of greater than 100 gloss units. Metallic finishes of the type used as automotive paints will generally produce gloss meter readings well in excess of 100 gloss units. It will be understood from the above that the term “specular gloss appearance” is not intended to mean that the surface will give the perception of a perfect or even near perfect mirror. However, it will be light reflective. However, it will be light reflective. Various terms such as “shiny,” “glossy,” “glassy,” etc. can be used to describe the appearance of the flexible plastic film that overlies the top side of the bill portion. In general, the flexible plastic having the specular gloss appearance will have a gloss meter reading of greater than about 70 gloss units as measured by the gloss measurement methods identified as BS EN ISO 2813 : BS 3900-D5, as set forth in a 3 page printout from THE PAINT RESEARCH ASSOCIATION, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Currently the printout is available at:
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- http://www.pra.org.uk/technical/testingopticalgloss.htm
The flexible plastic having the specular gloss appearance can be clear and transparent, translucent, colored, the only requirement being that to the ordinary observer, it has a specular gloss appearance. The flexible plastic material having the specular gloss appearance can be made from a wide range of polymeric materials, including such materials as polyvinylchloride, polyesters, and virtually any other polymeric material that is flexible and that possesses a specular gloss appearance. Preferred polymeric materials are those that will accept print where print is intended to include logos, pictures or any other markings. The term “flexible” as used herein is intended to mean that the material can be formed, laid or adhered to a surface and any wrinkles, creases or the like, easily removed. Generally speaking the flexible plastic having the specular gloss appearance will range in thickness from about 1 to 20 mils, more preferably 1 to 15 mils, depending upon the nature of the particular plastic or polymeric material, i.e., the thickness will be such that it is quite pliant.
As can be seen from many of the embodiments described above, the flexible plastic having the specular glass appearance can overlie the core section directly, but in the most preferred and usual cases, that layer will be over a layer of a material that can be described as decorative. The term “decorative material” or variants thereof, e.g., decorative layer of material, can include fabrics or cloths that can be of any number of colors, can be patterned, can be multicolored, embossed, etc. In this regard, it will be recognized that even a single color cloth having a non-specular gloss appearance will present a highly aesthetic appearance when it is overlaid with a clear, transparent, flexible plastic having the specular gloss appearance. The decorative layer can also be made, and in the most preferred cases, is of a flexible plastic material, generally colored and that also can have a specular gloss appearance. Indeed, the combination of a transparent outermost layer of flexible plastic having a specular gloss appearance over a colored flexible glass layer that has a specular gloss appearance is particularly eye-catching. When such plastic decorative layer is used, it will have a thickness of from 1 to 5 mils. It will also be appreciated that when a decorative layer of material is employed, as described above, logos, slogans, etc. can be imprinted thereon and, if the flexible plastic layer having the specular gloss appearance that is on the top surface of the bill is clear and transparent, will be readily seen. In cases where the flexible plastic having the specular gloss appearance forms the outer surface of the topside of the bill portion and there is a colored, flexible plastic layer as a decorative layer disposed between the top surface of the bill and the core section, it is desirable that the two plastic layers be adhered to one another by a suitable adhesive that, preferably is clear so as to not impair the viewing of the decorative layer. Indeed, many polymeric materials that can form the flexible plastic layer having the specular gloss appearance can be adhered to the decorative layer made of a similar polymeric material, simply by the application of heat or pressure.
It will also be appreciated that the decorative layer, whether it be cloth, plastic or a combination thereof, can be embossed with emblems, logos, etc. such that, when the flexible plastic layer having the specular gloss appearance covering the top side of the bill is transparent and clear, such logos, slogans, etc. will be clearly seen.
The term “cloth and fabric,” are used interchangeably herein and are intended to include anything made by weaving, felting, knitting, bonding, crocheting, etc. natural and/or synthetic fibers and filaments in any variation of texture, finish, weight, and including materials that were treated so as to give a special appearance or impart other properties.
It can be seen from the above description and figures that numerous combinations of materials can be employed in making the headgear of the present invention so long as the top surface of the bill portion is formed by a layer of a flexible plastic that has a specular gloss appearance, regardless of whether such layer is transparent, clear, translucent or colored. As a few examples of the possible combinations that could be employed, with reference to
In addition to providing a most aesthetically pleasing piece of headgear, the use of the flexible plastic layer having the specular gloss appearance over the top side of the bill portion has the added advantage that it is waterproof and can readily be cleaned. Accordingly, if there were a decorative layer between the top surface of the core section and the plastic layer having the specular gloss appearance forming the top surface of the bill portion, and the top surface of the bill portion became soiled, thereby obscuring or impairing the view of the decorative layer below, the soiling could be removed, generally with the use of soap and water or any detergent like material that did not impair the specular gloss appearance. Additionally, if both the top side and underside of the bill portion are covered with the plastic layer having a specular gloss appearance, the bill portion of the headgear becomes virtually impervious to rain.
The foregoing description and examples illustrate selected embodiments of the present invention. In light thereof, variations and modifications will be suggested to one skilled in the art, all of which are in the spirit and purview of this invention.
Claims
1. A piece of headgear comprising:
- a headband portion; and
- a bill portion connected to said headband portion, said bill portion having a top side, a bottom side and an edge, said bill portion having a composite construction, said composite construction including a shape imparting core section, said core section having a top surface and a bottom surface, and a layer of a flexible plastic over said top surface of said core section, said plastic layer having a specular gloss appearance.
2. The headgear of claim 1 wherein said plastic layer is transparent.
3. The headgear of claim 2 wherein there is a first decorative layer of material between said top surface of said core section and said transparent flexible plastic layer.
4. The headgear of claim 1 wherein there is a layer of fabric over said bottom surface of said core section.
5. The headgear of claim 1 wherein there is a layer of said flexible plastic over said bottom surface of said core section.
6. The headgear of claim 2 wherein there is a layer of fabric over said bottom surface of said core section and a layer of said flexible plastic over said fabric layer.
7. The headgear of claim 3 wherein said first decorative layer of material comprises a flexible plastic and said layer of transparent, flexible plastic is bonded to said first decorative layer.
8. The headgear of claim 3 wherein there is a second decorative layer of material between said bottom surface of said core section and a layer of said transparent flexible plastic layer over said second decorative layer.
9. The headgear of claim 8 wherein said second decorative layer of material comprises a flexible plastic and said layer of transparent, flexible plastic is bonded to said second decorative layer.
10. The headgear of claim 8 wherein said first and second decorative layers of material are substantially the same.
11. The headgear of claim 10 wherein said first and second decorative layers are a fabric.
12. The headgear of claim 3 wherein said first decorative layer comprises an adhesive coating on said top surface of said core section and a dispersion of particulate materials in said substrate.
13. The headgear of claim 12 wherein said particulate material is light reflecting.
14. The headgear of claim 13 wherein said particulate material comprises metallic flecks.
15. The headgear of claim 1 wherein said front edge of said bill portion is overlaid with a metallic strip and there is a layer of a transparent, flexible plastic over said metallic strip.
16. The headgear of claim 15 wherein said transparent, flexible plastic has a specular gloss appearance.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 12, 2003
Publication Date: Jun 23, 2005
Inventors: David Upton (Harris County, TX), Christopher Upton (Harris County, TX)
Application Number: 10/735,004