Multi-person garment

Abstract

A garment (10) of poncho-like construction has two or more head openings (22, 24) formed therein and is otherwise configured to be worn simultaneously by two or more persons. The garment has a garment front (15) and a garment back (17) which overlap each other, and first and second outside arm openings (14a, 14b) at, respectively, the first side edge (14) and second side edge (16). An inside arm opening (26) is also provided.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/511,526, filed Oct. 15, 2003 in the name of Christine M. Reynolds and entitled “Multi-Person Garment.”

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention concerns a garment which is dimensioned and configured to be worn simultaneously by two or more persons. For example, one aspect of the present invention concerns a poncho-like garment having two head openings and being otherwise dimensioned and configured to be worn simultaneously by two persons.

2. Related Art

Sacks designed to encase the legs and lower portion of the torso of a wearer are known. Shelter halves which have fasteners thereon to enable one shelter half to be connected to another to form a small (“pup”) tent are also known.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Generally, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a garment which may be of poncho-like construction, and which is configured to be worn by a plurality of persons, for example, two persons, positioned side-by-side. The garment may be of unitary construction, i.e., it may be made of a single piece of fabric. Alternatively, the garment may be made from two or more pieces of fabric joined to each other by any suitable means, such as sewing. In some cases, the garment may comprise two or more single-wearer garments, e.g., poncho-like garments having one head opening each, equipped with fasteners which enable the single-wearer garments to be joined to each other to provide a multi-person garment of the invention. Multi-wearer garments of the invention may similarly be joined to each other, or to single-wearer garments, or both, to provide extended multi-wearer garments.

Specifically, in accordance with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a garment having at least two head openings formed therein, and otherwise configured to be worn simultaneously by two or more persons, e.g., by two persons, according to the number of head openings in the garment.

One aspect of the present invention provides that the garment comprises a fabric foldable along a lateral axis of the fabric into two overlapping lateral halves having opposite first and second side edges, wherein one of the lateral halves comprises a garment front, the other of the lateral halves comprises a garment back, and the lateral axis defines a shoulder line of the garment. The garment has at least two head openings spaced apart from each other and located on the shoulder line of the garment.

Still other aspects of the invention provide that the garment comprises two or more garments having at least a single head opening and having fasteners at their respective side edges, which fasteners are configured to connect the garments together to provide a conjoined garment having at least two head openings and otherwise configured to be worn by two or more persons, according to the number of head openings in the conjoined garment.

Another aspect of the present invention provides that the garment front is secured to the garment back at the first and second side edges, either by removable fasteners or by being permanently connected to each other, as by sewing.

Other aspects of the present invention provide one or more of the following features, alone or in combination: the garment may further have at least one inside arm opening in the garment front; the garment may further have a first arm opening provided in the first side edge, and a second arm opening provided in the second side edge; the garment fabric may be of generally rectangular configuration; the head openings may be fitted with hoods.

Yet another aspect of the present invention provides that the garment may comprise a first garment having thereon at least one first fastener disposed at or adjacent to at least one of the first and second side edges, preferably at or adjacent to both the first and second side edges, whereby the first garment may be fastened to a second poncho-like garment.

As used herein and in the claims, the “inside” arm of a given wearer is the arm adjacent to a wearer positioned next to the given wearer. The “outside” arm of a given wearer is the arm at the end of the garment, i.e., the arm next to which there is no wearer. In a three-or-more-wearer version of the garment, a wearer who has another wearer on each side of him or her is considered to have two “inside” arms. The term “rectangular” is used in its broad sense to include the special case of an equilateral rectangle, i.e., a square.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of two persons wearing a garment in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, the two persons standing with their arms extended and the hoods of the garment down;

FIG. 2 is a front view of two persons wearing the garment of FIG. 1, with the hoods of the garment up;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the inside of the garment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3A is a side elevation view of one of the hoods of the garment of FIG. 1, a wearer's face being shown in profile to illustrate the hood in its “up” position; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view, reduced in size relative to FIG. 3, but otherwise corresponding thereto, of the garment of FIG. 3 secured to a second, substantially identical garment to provide a garment for four persons.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION AND PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS THEREOF

FIG. 1 shows two persons wearing a garment 10 in accordance with the present invention and standing with their arms outstretched and having the hoods (not visible in FIG. 1) in the off or down position. FIG. 2 shows the two wearers wearing the garment 10; in this view the wearers are standing closer together than in FIG. 1 with their arms down, and with the hoods 28 of garment 10 up, i.e., over the wearers' heads.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the inside of garment 10. Garment 10 is of generally rectangular configuration when laid flat as shown in FIG. 3, with the corners 12a, 12b, 12c and 12d rounded. The term “generally rectangular” includes a garment as illustrated in FIG. 3, in which the corners of an otherwise rectangular (or square) garment are rounded. Garment 10 has a first side edge 14 and an opposite, second side edge 16, a front edge 18 and a back edge 20.

Lateral center axis L-L divides first and second side edges 14, 16 into two equal halves, a garment front 15 and a garment back 17. Thus, lateral center axis L-L is positioned halfway between front edge 18 and back edge 20. Vertical center axis V-V is positioned halfway between first side edge 14 and second side edge 16 and divides garment 10 into two equal lateral halves. Axes V-V and L-L thus divide garment 10 into four equal-area quadrants, front quadrants F1 and F2 and back quadrants B1 and B2. The lateral axis need not be at the center line if it is desired that the garment front have a length l_f which is different from the length l_b of the garment back. Usually, the lateral axis, which will define the shoulder line of the garment as described below, will be a lateral center axis L-L as illustrated. This will provide that the length l_f of the garment front 15 (comprised of front quadrants F1 and F2) is equal to the length l_b of the garment back 17 (comprised of back quadrants B12 and B2), and that the garment front 15 and the garment back 17 will entirely overlap each other. Such complete overlap is not essential however, and reference in the claims to overlapping of the garment front and garment back, unless otherwise specified, includes a partial overlap as would occur if lengths l_f and l_b are not equal.

The garment of the present invention need not be generally rectangular and could be formed of a circular or nearly circular piece of fabric, although a generally rectangular configuration is usual and preferred to the extent that it provides flexibility in selecting the proportion of the width W (FIG. 3) to length l_f or l_b of the garment.

A first head opening 22 and a second head opening 24 are positioned on either side of, and equally spaced from, vertical center axis V-V and are disposed along lateral center axis L-L, which defines the shoulder line of the garment. A somewhat oblong inside arm opening 26 is aligned with vertical center axis V-V in the front portion of garment 10, and us therefore at the border between quadrants F1 and F2. Inside arm opening 26 enables one or both of the wearers to extend their inside arms (the wearers' arms that are adjacent to each other) out of the garment 10. If desired, a pair (not shown) of such inside arm openings may be provided, so that each wearer may have his or her own inside arm opening.

FIG. 3A shows a hood 28 which is typical of the two hoods of garment 10. Hood 28 has a joinder edge 30 which is affixed or affixable about a portion of the periphery of first head opening 22. Second head opening 24 has another hood, identical to hood 28 and not shown, affixed or affixable along a portion of its periphery. Hood 28 has a hood opening 28a (FIG. 3A) facing front edge 18 (FIG. 3) of garment 10.

Referring again to FIG. 3, a pair of spaced-apart fasteners 32a, 32b are positioned adjacent first side edge 14 and are equally spaced from lateral center axis L-L. A second pair of spaced-apart fasteners 34a, 34b are similarly placed adjacent to second side edge 16 and equally spaced from lateral center axis L-L.

While the garment of the invention may be made to any desired size, typical dimensions of the garment 10 of FIG. 3 may be as follows.

EXAMPLE 1

	Dimension	Inches	(Centimeters)
	Width, W	90	(228.6)
	Depth, D	90	(228.6)
	Front length, lf	45	(114.3)
	Back length, 1b	45	(114.3)
	Neckline/neckline, N	28	(71.1)
	Inside arm opening, I	21	(53.3)
	Circumference of head	30	(76.2)
	openings 22, 24

EXAMPLE 2

	Dimension	Inches	(Centimeters)
	Width, W	103	(261.6)
	Depth, D	110	(279.4)
	Front length, lf	55	(139.7)
	Back length, lb	55	(139.7)
	Neckline/neckline, N	36	(91.4)
	Inside arm opening, I	25	(63.5)
	Circumference of head	30	(76.2)
	openings 22, 24

When donned by the wearers, garment 10 is folded along lateral center axis L-L and one wearer inserts his or her head through first head opening 22 while the other wearer inserts his or her head through second head opening 24. Lateral axis L-L defines the shoulder line of garment 10, which is worn with fasteners 32a, 32b, 34a and 34b on the inside. By fastening fastener 32a to fastener 32b and fastener 34a to fastener 34b, the folded halves of first side edge 14 and of second side edge 16 can be closed in the vicinity of lateral center axis L-L, leaving portions of the respective side edges open at least to provide respective first and second arm openings 14a, 16a (FIG. 1) so that one arm of each wearer may protrude therefrom as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2.

One or both of the wearers may leave the hood down (as both wearers in FIG. 1 have done), or may place the hood up, i.e., over the wearer's head (as both wearers in FIG. 2 have done). The latter case is illustrated by FIG. 3A, which shows the profile of a wearer's face protruding from hood opening 28a.

In other embodiments, fasteners 32a, 32b and 34a, 34b may extend along a larger portion of, respectively, first side edge 14 and second side edge 16 in order to close more of the side edges for increased warmth. In one embodiment, the entirety of the first and second side edges may be closed by fasteners for increased warmth. That arrangement would, of course, prevent the wearers from placing their outside arms through the side edges 14 and 16. Fasteners 32a, 32b and 34a, 34b may be any suitable fasteners, including buttons, hooks and eyes, paired snap fittings, zippers or the like, and conveniently may comprise fabric hook-and-eye fasteners of the type sold under the trademark VELCRO®.

In other embodiments, inside arm opening 26 may also be equipped with fasteners (not shown) in order to close inside arm opening 26 for added warmth. In that case, the wearers keep their inside arms within the garment 10, as illustrated in FIG. 1.

Generally, it is seen that the garment may be a poncho-like garment having two or more head openings, two side openings, one at either end of the garment, and at least one inside arm opening. The side openings are respectively dimensioned and configured so that one of the wearers may extend his or her “outside” arm therethrough, and the at least one inside arm opening is dimensioned and configured so that one or both of the wearers may extend his or her “inside” arm therethrough. (The wearer's “inside” and “outside” arms are defined below.)

In certain embodiments of the invention, the side edges of the garment front and garment back are sewn or otherwise affixed to each other in a way that does not admit of readily securing and releasing the garment front from the garment back. Stated otherwise, in lieu of openable and closable fasteners 32a, 32b 34a and 34b, the garment front and garment back may be sewn together at or near the location of such fasteners, to provide a permanently closed garment. Similarly, the garment front and garment back may be made of two separate pieces of fabric fastened together along the shoulder line, e.g., along central lateral axis L-L of FIG. 3, either non-releasably, as by sewing, or by releasable fasteners. Generally, for simplicity of construction and use, the garment front and garment back will be made of a unitary piece of fabric or of two pieces of fabric sewn or otherwise non-removably fastened to each other along the shoulder line.

A single-wearer poncho-like garment may be equipped with fasteners at or adjacent both its side edges to enable connecting two or more of the single-wearer garments to each other to provide a multi-person garment. Thus, the garment 10 of FIG. 3 could be provided by fastening together two single-wearer ponchos one or both of which are equipped with suitable fasteners along their side edges, for example, fasteners such as 32a, 32b and 34a, 34b illustrated in connection with FIG. 3.

The garments of the present invention may be dimensioned and configured to accommodate not only two wearers, but three or more wearers of a single garment. In another embodiment, the fasteners provided along the first and second side edges 14, 16 may be dimensioned and configured to enable connection of garment 10 to another identical or similar garment, e.g., to a single-person poncho-like garment, to thereby accommodate three or more wearers, or multiple sets of garments may be connected to form a multi-person garment in accordance with the present invention. In one embodiment, single-wearer or two- (or more) wearer poncho-like garments, e.g., such as garment 10, are equipped with fasteners at or adjacent both their side edges to enable two or more such garments to be connected to each other to form a multi-person garment in accordance with the present invention.

The material of which the garment is made may be any suitable fabric, e.g., wool, cotton, synthetic fibers, blends of natural and synthetic fibers, polymeric sheet material, etc., and may be treated to be waterproof or water-resistant, or may have a layer of water-resistant or waterproof material on the exterior to provide protection against rain.

Such an arrangement utilizing two two-wearer garments is schematically shown in FIG. 4, wherein garment 10 of FIG. 3 is shown affixed to a second garment 10′, which is substantially identical to garment 10. The various portions of garment 10′ are numbered identically to the corresponding portions of garment 10, except for the addition of a prime. As the portions of garment 10 have been fully described in connection with FIGS. 3 and 3A, and the portions of garment 10′ are substantially identical to those of garment 10, a description of the portions of garment 10′ is not necessary. Any suitable means may be used to secure garment 10 to garment 10′, such as buttons, hooks and eyes, paired snap fittings, zippers or the like. Such fasteners (not shown) may be provided at or adjacent the side edges 14, 16 and 14′, 16′ to enable securing of garment 10 to garment 10′, and, optionally, to other like garments. Such fasteners, if not placed at the side edges, e.g., zippers, may be placed adjacent the side edges on both the inside and outside of the garments to provide flexibility in fastening one garment to another. In the schematic rendition of FIG. 4, it is seen that side edge 16′ of garment 10′ slightly overlaps side edge 14 (shown in dash lines in FIG. 4) of garment 10. In other embodiments, the side edge 16′ may abut the side edge 14 with no overlap.

The garments of the present invention will find utility in providing warmth for indoor or outdoor use and/or function as a raincoat when worn outdoors, for example, at outdoor sporting events such as football games and the like. The garments of the present invention will also find utility as survival garments which enable the wearers to share and conserve body heat.

Those embodiments of the garments of the present invention which are provided with suitable fasteners, e.g., those which enable two garments to be joined to each other and/or to close the side edges of the individual garments, may also be utilized to form a shelter tent. Thus, two such garments may be joined together and short tent poles or sticks may be used to prop up the joined garments. A floor pad may be employed, to the periphery of which the joined garments may be fastened by suitable fasteners. Further, one or more of such garments of the invention may be removably fastened by suitable fasteners to the floor pad to provide a sleeping roll for one or more persons.

While the invention has been described in detail with respect to particular embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated that numerous variations to the described embodiments lie within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A garment having at least two head openings formed therein and otherwise configured to be worn simultaneously by two or more persons, according to the number of head openings in the garment.

2. The garment of claim 1 having two head openings formed therein and otherwise configured to be worn simultaneously by two persons.

3. The garment of claim 1 comprising a fabric foldable along a lateral axis of the fabric into two overlapping lateral halves having opposite first and second side edges, wherein one of the lateral halves comprises a garment front, the other of the lateral halves comprises a garment back, and the lateral axis defines a shoulder line of the garment; and

at least two head openings spaced apart from each other and located on the shoulder line of the garment.

4. The garment of claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3 comprised of two or more garments having at least a single head opening and having fasteners at their respective side edges, which fasteners are configured to connect the garments together to provide a conjoined garment having at least two head openings and otherwise configured to be worn by two or more persons, according to the number of head openings in the conjoined garment.

5. The garment of claim 3 further comprising fasteners affixed at or adjacent the first and second side edges and configured to secure the garment front to the garment back at both the first and second side edges.

6. The garment of claim 5 wherein the fasteners are arranged to leave a first arm opening in the first side edge and a second arm opening in the second side edge.

7. The garment of claim 1 comprising a fabric folded along a lateral axis of the fabric into two overlapping lateral halves, the garment having opposite first and second side edges wherein one of the lateral halves comprises a garment front, the other of the lateral halves comprises a garment back, the garment front being secured to the garment back at the first and second side edges, and the lateral axis defines a shoulder line of the garment; and

at least two head openings spaced apart from each other and located on the shoulder line of the garment.

8. The garment of claim 1, claim 3 or claim 7 further comprising at least one inside arm opening in the garment front.

9. The garment of claim 3 or claim 7 wherein a first arm opening is provided in the first side edge and a second arm opening is provided in the second side edge.

10. The garment of claim 3 or claim 7 wherein the fabric is of generally rectangular configuration.

11. The garment of claim 3 or claim 5 wherein the head openings are fitted with hoods.

12. The garment of claim 3 or claim 7 comprising a first garment having thereon at least one first fastener disposed at or adjacent to at least one of the first and second side edges, whereby the first garment may be fastened to a second poncho-like garment.

13. The garment of claim 12 comprising the first fastener disposed on or adjacent to both the first side edge and the second side edge, whereby the first garment may be fastened to the second garment and, optionally, to a third garment, at either or both the first and second side edges of the first garment.

14. The garment of claim 13 wherein each garment comprises a fabric foldable along a lateral axis of the fabric into two overlapping lateral halves having opposite first and second side edges, wherein one of the lateral halves comprises a garment front, the other of the lateral halves comprises a garment back, and the lateral axis defines a shoulder line of the garment; and

at least two head openings spaced apart from each other and located on the shoulder line of the garment.