Cap with Replaceable Visor and/or Adjustment Straps
A cap has removable and replaceable components. The visor of the cap is releasably secured to the crown portion. Additionally, size adjustment straps for the cap are releasably secured to the crown portion. These components may be removed from the crown portion and replaced with components having different colors, designs or written indicia.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to hats generally. In particular embodiments the invention relates to baseball-style caps having a crown with a visor and size-adjustment straps.
2. Description of the Related Art
Baseball-style caps are a popular style of headwear. A typical baseball cap includes a crown portion, which sits atop the head, and a visor that extends outwardly from the crown and is useful to protect the wearer's face from the sun. Traditionally, the crown, and occasionally the visor, is used to display logos, insignia, slogans and any number of other designs.
Typically, a baseball cap is provided with an adjustment mechanism on the back of the crown portion that allows the cap to be adjusted to fit different sized heads.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention provides an exemplary baseball style cap that has replaceable components. In one exemplary embodiment, the cap has a visor that is easily removable and which can be replaced with a different visor. This allows a wearer to have a single hat which can display different visual indicia. According to a described embodiment, the visor and crown portion are releasably secured to each other using complementary attachment strips that are preferably formed of hook-and-loop fasteners. In a described embodiment, the visor is provided with an attachment flap along its proximal edge upon which its hook-and-loop fastener attachment strip is affixed. Also in a described embodiment, the flap has side tabs which project laterally beyond the side edges of the visor. Each side tab has a first hook-and-loop fastener strip affixed thereto. The crown portion includes cloth flaps that extend from the bottom edge of the crown portion. The cloth flaps can preferably be folded into and out of the crown portion. Each of the cloth flaps has an affixed second fastener strip that can be releasably secured to a first fastener strip on a side tab of the visor flap. When folded into the crown portion, the first and second fastener strips will be secured together.
In another exemplary embodiment, a cap is provided which has a set of adjustment straps that are releasably secured to the crown portion of the cap and which can be readily removed from the crown portion and replaced with another set of adjustment straps. According to a further embodiment, a cap is provided which has a removable/replaceable button atop the crown.
For detailed understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which reference characters designate like or similar elements throughout the several figures of the drawings.
A first visor 20 is releasably secured to the crown portion 12. As is known in the art, the first visor 20 is useful to shade a wearer's eyes and face from sun and may be useful for the display of designs, colors and written indicia. The first visor 20 has a distal edge 22 and a proximal edge 24. In a currently preferred embodiment, the visor 20 is provided with an attachment flap 26 along the proximal edge 24. When the visor 20 is affixed to the crown portion 12, it projects radially outwardly from the crown portion 12. The attachment flap 26 has an affixed attachment strip 28 that can be removably secured to a complimentary attachment strip 30 that is affixed within the crown portion 12. Complementary hook-and-loop fasteners, such as VELCRO® strips, are preferably used as the complementary attachment strips 28, 30. As can best be seen with reference to
In particular embodiments, the visor 20 and crown portion 12 are provided with complementary pairs of magnets that attract one another to assist in properly aligning the visor 20 with respect to the crown portion 12.
It can be appreciated that one can affix a visor 20 to the crown portion 12 by first disposing the attachment flap 26 of the visor 20 into the crown portion 12 and allowing each of the magnets 19 on the flap 26 to be attracted to the magnets 21 on the crown portion 12, thereby helping to properly align the visor 20. The attachment strip 28 on the attachment flap 26 is then affixed to the attachment strip 30 within the crown portion 12. Thereafter, the fastening flaps 38 are folded into the crown portion 12 so that the second fastener strips 40 on the fastening flaps 38 are secured to the first fastener strips 36 on the side tabs 32 of the visor 20. It should also be appreciated that the use of the tabs 32 and fastening flaps 38 with fastener strips 38, 40 provide for security in the attachment of the visor 20 to the crown portion 12, making it difficult for the visor 20 to be inadvertently removed from the crown portion 12.
In order to remove the visor 20 from the crown portion 12, the tasks are reversed. The fastening flaps 38 are folded outwardly from the crown portion 12, thereby allowing the fastener strips 40 to be removed from attachment with the fastener strips 36 of the visor 20. Thereafter, the visor 20 is removed from the crown portion 12 by separating the attachment strip 28 of the visor 20 from the attachment strip 30 of the crown portion 12. The visor 20 can then be replaced with a replacement visor which will be releasably attached to the crown portion 12 in the same manner as the original visor 20. It should be appreciated that one may use multiple interchangeable visors 20 of different colors or having different designs or written indicia in order to have a single cap 10 which provides several different looks.
Eye 70 is secured to the inner surface of the crown portion 12. While
The ability to readily remove and replace adjustment straps 42, 44 with other colors or styles of adjustment straps permits a wearer to further alter the appearance of the cap 10.
The foregoing description is directed to particular embodiments of the present invention for the purpose of illustration and explanation. It will be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that many modifications and changes to the embodiment set forth above are possible without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention.
Claims
1. A cap comprising:
- a crown portion that is generally shaped and sized to surround an upper portion of a wearer's head; and
- a visor to shade a wearer's face, the visor being removably affixed to the crown portion to project radially outwardly from the crown portion.
2. The cap of claim 1 further comprising:
- a first attachment strip affixed to the crown portion; and
- a second attachment strip affixed to the visor, the first and second attachment strips being releasably securable to each other in a complementary manner to releasably secure the visor to the crown portion.
3. The cap of claim 2 further comprising an attachment flap extending from a proximal edge of the visor, the second attachment strip being affixed to the attachment flap.
4. The cap of claim 3 further comprising:
- a side tab extending laterally from the attachment flap of the visor and having a first fastening strip secured thereupon;
- a fastening flap that extends from an edge of the crown portion, the fastening flap being moveable between a first position wherein the fastening flap extends away from the lower edge of the crown portion and a second position wherein fastening flap is folded into the crown portion; and
- a second fastening strip affixed to the fastening flap and being releasably securable to the first fastening strip when the fastening flap is in its second position.
5. The cap of claim 1 further comprising:
- a first magnetic member affixed to the visor; and
- a second magnetic member affixed to the crown portion, the second magnetic member being attracted to the first magnetic member so that the visor is generally properly aligned with crown portion for attachment to the crown portion.
6. The cap of claim 1 further comprising:
- an adjustment mechanism that permits a wearer to adjust the cap to accommodate heads of various size, the adjustment mechanism being releasably secured to the crown portion.
7. The cap of claim 6 wherein:
- the adjustment mechanism comprises first and second adjustment straps that can be interconnected in a plurality of configurations that correspond to a plurality of cap sizes; and
- wherein each of the first and second adjustment straps are releasably secured to the crown portion.
8. The cap of claim 7 wherein the first and second adjustment straps are releasably secured to the crown portion with a hook-and-eye style fastener.
9. The cap of claim 1 wherein the visor is replaced with a second visor that is removably affixed to the crown portion.
10. The cap of claim 7 wherein the adjustment mechanism is replaced with a second adjustment mechanism that is removably affixed to the crown portion.
11. A cap comprising:
- a crown portion that is generally shaped and sized to surround an upper portion of a wearer's head;
- a visor to shade a wearer's face; and
- an adjustment mechanism that permits a wearer to adjust the cap to accommodate heads of various size, the adjustment mechanism being releasably secured to the crown portion.
12. The cap of claim 11 wherein the visor being removably affixed to the crown portion to project radially outwardly from the crown portion.
13. The cap of claim 12 further comprising:
- a first attachment strip affixed to the crown portion; and
- a second attachment strip affixed to the visor, the first and second attachment strips being releasably securable to each other in a complementary manner to releasably secure the visor to the crown portion.
14. The cap of claim 13 further comprising an attachment flap extending from a proximal edge of the visor, the second attachment strip being affixed to the attachment flap.
15. The cap of claim 14 further comprising:
- a side tab extending laterally from the attachment flap of the visor and having a first fastening strip secured thereupon;
- a fastening flap that extends from an edge of the crown portion, the fastening flap being moveable between a first position wherein the fastening flap extends away from the lower edge of the crown portion and a second position wherein fastening flap is folded into the crown portion; and
- a second fastening strip affixed to the fastening flap and being releasably securable to the first fastening strip when the fastening flap is in its second position.
16. The cap of claim 11 further comprising:
- a first magnetic member affixed to the visor; and
- a second magnetic member affixed to the crown portion, the second magnetic member being attracted to the first magnetic member so that the visor is generally properly aligned with crown portion for attachment to the crown portion.
17. The cap of claim 11 wherein:
- the adjustment mechanism comprises first and second adjustment straps that can be interconnected in a plurality of configurations that correspond to a plurality of cap sizes; and
- wherein each of the first and second adjustment straps are releasably secured to the crown portion.
18. The cap of claim 17 wherein the first and second adjustment straps are releasably secured to the crown portion with a hook-and-eye style fastener.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 28, 2014
Publication Date: May 21, 2015
Inventor: Thethien Dominic Nguyen (North Richland Hills, TX)
Application Number: 14/525,287
International Classification: A42B 1/20 (20060101); A42B 1/00 (20060101); A42B 1/18 (20060101);