Hair Style Accommodating Ball Cap
A hair style accommodating ball cap has an enlarged aperture in the rear of the crown that allows for a ponytail, french braid, or other hair clip or hair accessory to protrude therethrough. The width of the aperture in the back of the crown is at least seventy percent of the overall width of the cap crown. Furthermore, the height of the aperture in the back of the crown is at least ninety percent of the overall height of the crown of the cap. The top of the aperture is further constrained to lie behind the peak of the crown. There are closure straps at the back of the cap that accommodate a variety of head sizes.
This application claims the benefit of provisional application 61/263569 filed Oct. 23, 2009 which is hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to headwear and, more specifically, to a ball cap that accommodates long hair and related hair styles.
2. Description of Related Art
Ball caps are available in a virtually limitless variety of colors, materials of construction, and displayed decorative appliques. Despite this wide variety, there are still needs that are not served by conventional ball caps. While the conventional ball cap design is suitable for men or women having short hair, individuals having long hair generally do not find that standard design to be acceptable.
It is common for a person to wear their long hair in a ponytail when wearing a ball cap, threading it out through the opening in the rear of the crown of the cap normally associated with size adjustment. If the ponytail is relatively thin and plain, this approach can work perfectly fine. In other cases, such as where the person's hair is particularly thick or where a more elaborate hair style is desired, the rear opening in the standard ball cap is too small. There have been several attempts at addressing this situation, with two such examples provided below.
By adding the second opening 22, Garnier does succeed in accommodating larger ponytails than does Briske, but even then, it will not work with a french braid or other types of hair clips/hair accessories. What is needed is a ball cap that has a very large opening in its crown that is not only functional, but also versatile and esthetically pleasing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn light of the aforementioned problems associated with the prior devices, it is an object of the present invention to provide a hair style accommodating ball cap. The ball cap should have an enlarged aperture in the rear of the crown that will allow for a ponytail, french braid, or other hair clip or hair accessory to protrude therethrough. The width of the aperture in the back of the crown should be at least seventy percent of the overall width of the cap crown. Furthermore, the height of the aperture in the back of the crown should at least ninety percent of the overall height of the crown of the cap, although the top of the aperture should not occur forward of the peak of the crown. There should be closure straps at the back of the cap that accommodate a variety of head sizes.
The objects and features of the present invention, which are believed to be novel, are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages, may best be understood by reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, of which:
The following description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention and sets forth the best modes contemplated by the inventor of carrying out her invention. Various modifications, however, will remain readily apparent to those skilled in the art, since the generic principles of the present invention have been defined herein specifically to provide a hair style accommodating ball cap.
The crown 36 in this embodiment 30 is made from first and second front panels 40A, 40B, and third and fourth rear panels 42A, 42B. The tail ends of the two rear panels 42A and 42B terminate in first closure strap 46A and second closure strap 46B. These two straps 46A, 46B detachably attach to one another (such as by the hook-and-loop fastener shown here) in order to provide the necessary size adjustability. The aperture 44 is so large that is reaches at its bottom end from the straps 46A, 46B all the way up to the peak 52 of the crown 36. The aperture 44 is large, but it does not extend forward of the peak 52, or the midline 53 that denotes the center of the crown 36 (from front to back). As such, the cap 30 is not similar to a conventional sun visor, which is essentially a headband with a visor (i.e. there is effectively no crown at all).
Finally,
The aperture dimensions listed above were arrived at through experimentation. A series of ballcaps having gradually increasing aperture dimensions was fabricated. The experimental ball caps were tested by attaching them to a hair design mannequin (brand, model #) having particularly long, thick hair and quantifying the extent to which the resulting hair cascade was confined by the caps. Additionally, qualitative assessments of the attractiveness of the resulting display were also attempted and were correlated with the quantitative measurements. Table 1 shows the approximate dimensions of the aperture in each experimental cap. The crown of the cap was 20 cm in diameter and 10 cm tall.
The results of the experiment show that, of the five aperture sizes tested, cap #3 possesses the preferred aperture dimensions. Thus, the preferred aperture height (measured from the base of the crown) is essentially the full crown height, while the preferred aperture width is 70% of the width of the crown. For practical manufacturing purposes, the height of the aperture can be characterized as having a minimum of 90% of the height of the crown, while the top of the aperture is constrained to fall behind the peak of the crown, thereby excluding caps having the configuration of experimental caps #4 and #5. Since the degree of constraint of the hair style appears to be more strongly correlated with the forward location of the edge of the aperture which is, in turn, related to the location of the top of the aperture, the aperture width constraint can be relaxed to allow widths greater than the minimum width established in the experiment.
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the just-described preferred embodiment can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein.
Claims
1. A ball cap comprising:
- A sweatband configured to encircle the head of a wearer having a top edge and a bottom edge, an inside surface and an outside surface, and having a forward portion extending around the wearer's forehead and a rear portion extending around the sides and rear of the wearer's head,
- A bill attached to and extending forwardly from the bottom edge of the forward portion of the sweatband,
- A dome-shaped crown having a height and a width attached to the bottom edge of the outside surface of the sweatband and extending upwardly from the forward and rear portions of the sweatband to cover the forehead, sides and back of the wearer's head,
- Said crown defined by at least four panels made at least in part from a flexible material and joined to each other,
- Said crown presenting an opening above the center of the rear portion of the sweatband extending upwardly from the top edge of the sweatband for passage of wearer's hair,
- Said opening having a round shape, a height greater than ninety percent of the height of the crown and a width greater than seventy percent of the width of the crown.
2. The ball cap of claim 1 wherein the sweatband includes means to adjust its diameter to accommodate different size wearer's heads.
Type: Application
Filed: Nov 22, 2010
Publication Date: Nov 8, 2012
Inventor: Ginny Bischel (Bonita, CA)
Application Number: 13/510,337
International Classification: A42C 5/02 (20060101); A42B 1/22 (20060101);