Headgear with integrated game hoop
Headgear comprising a crown portion, a visor portion, and a netting or hoop secured to the visor portion. The crown portion is preferably separably secured to the visor portion. Various means of separably securing the crown portion to the visor portion, are used including any of VELCRO®, or other hook and loop fastening material, buttons, snaps, elastic, or the like. Various means of securing the netting or hoop to the visor portion are also used including any of VELCRO® or other hook and loop fastening material, buttons, snaps, thread, or the like. The headgear may also omit the crown portion to provide only the visor portion with the netting or hoop secured thereto. In any case, a bill of the visor portion may be fitted between a door or drawer frame and an edge of the door or drawer and the frame, in order to render the netting or hoop available for tossing articles into the netting or hoop.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to headgear. More specifically, the invention relates to headgear having a game hoop integrated therewith.
2. Related Art
Headgear, in the form of hats, caps, and/or visors, has long been available publicly. Various styles of headgear exist to accommodate fashion and function requirements in a myriad of social venues. Such venues may include, for example, formal events, political rallies, church or religious events, sporting events, hunting, walking, beach going, or other such events. In any case, conventional headgear is typically adorned appropriately to suit the social venues to which the headgear is worn. Such adornments may comprise embroidered or printed designs, logos, or attachments to the headgear. The attachments may include, for example, pins, feathers, ribbons, flowers, patches, buttons, or the like, and may even include whimsical attachments such as the head and tail of a fish, or other theme-motivated attachments, for example.
U.S Patent Application Publication No. 2001/0034894 to Godfrey, et al. shows a typical sports cap in which various logos may be interchangeably attached to the front face of the cap in order to suit the event one is attending while wearing the cap.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,062 to Douglas shows a baseball cap with a detachable visor. U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,759 to Rinaldi shows an expandable baseball cap configured to fit people having variously shaped and sized heads. The expandable baseball cap of Rinaldi also shows a detachable visor. U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,180 to Hall McKenzie shows a sports cap with a reversible crown and a detachable visor. U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,848 to May shows a cap having an optional visor, or bill, wherein the visor, or bill, detachable from the cap. Thus, it is known to have detachable visors, or bills, comprising a sports cap or other type of headgear.
Still other known headgear comprise functions other than mere coverage on one's head. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,713 to McCallum shows a sports cap that is convertible into a bag for storing or carrying goods. Further, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0074184 to Cowgill, et al. shows a stocking-type hat that is convertible into a megaphone or hearing device for use at a sporting event, for example, or is convertible into a sack for storing and carrying goods, as another example.
None of the conventional headgear described above provide headgear having a game made integral therewith. In view of this, a niche exists for headgear that integrates a game therewith, whereby the headgear is easily converted from its function as headgear into the game that is integrated into the headgear.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe various embodiments described herein are directed to headgear comprising a crown portion and a visor portion, each having a circumferential band wherein at least one of which is a circumferentially adjustable band. The crown portion may be separably secured to the visor portion, and a netting or hoop is secured to the visor portion. The circumferentially adjustable band may be provided on the visor portion and may be comprised of portions having Velcro, or other conventional fastener, provided thereon to enable adjustment of the circumferentially adjustable band of the visor portion to the size and shape of the one wearing the headgear. The circumferentially adjustable band may also be provided on the crown portion and may also be comprised of portions having Velcro, or other conventional fastener, but is preferably comprised of a continuous band of material, such as elastic, that merely gathers or releases to correspond to the size of the circumferential band of the visor portion, when the crown is secured to the visor portion.
In some embodiments, the crown portion is separably secured to the visor portion using Velcro, or other hook and loop fastening material. The Velcro, or other hook and loop fastening material, is preferably secured to an interior surface of the circumferential band of the crown and to a corresponding exterior surface of the circumferential band of the visor portion such that when the circumferential band of the crown portion is placed over the circumferential band of the visor portion, the corresponding portions of the Velcro, or other hook and loop fastening material, align with one another and secure the crown portion to the visor portion. The Velcro, or other hook and loop fastening material, may be attached in discrete locations on the interior surface of the circumferential band of the crown portion and to corresponding discrete locations of the exterior surface of the circumferential band of the visor portion. Alternatively, the Velcro, or other hook and loop fastening material, may be attached as a continuous band over each of the interior surface of the circumferential band of the crown and the corresponding exterior surface of the circumferential band of the visor portion. Although perhaps not as attractive, a zipper or zippers could also be used in place of the Velcro, or other hook and loop fastening material, to separably secure the crown portion to the visor portion of the headgear.
In other embodiments, the crown portion is separably secured to the visor portion using buttons arranged on one of the circumferential bands of the crown portion and the visor portion, and button receptacles stitched into the corresponding other of the circumferential bands of the crown portion and the visor portion and in alignment with the provided buttons.
In still other embodiments, the crown portion is separably secured to the visor portion using snaps and snap receptacles arranged in alignment with one another on the corresponding portions of the circumferential bands of the crown portion and the visor portion.
In practice, when the crown portion is secured to the visor portion, the adjustment of the circumferential band of the visor portion, for example, causes the corresponding adjustment of the circumferential band of the crown portion of the headgear, when the crown portion is secured thereto the visor portion. The netting or hoop remains secured to the visor portion, but is collected and situated within the crown portion of the headgear as the headgear is worn by a person. Further, when the crown portion of the headgear is removed from the visor portion, the netting or hoop secured to the visor portion extends, thereby providing the game hoop into which separately provided articles, such as a ball, may be thrown as in a basketball game. A bill of the visor portion of the headgear extends from the circumferential band of the visor portion and is configured to fit between a frame of a door and an edge of the door, for example, in order to secure the game hoop in place for playing therewith. Alternatively, the bill of the visor portion may be fitted between the frame of a drawer and an edge of the drawer to secure the game hoop in place for playing therewith.
Of course, the visor portion with the netting or hoop secured thereto represents yet another embodiment of the headgear described herein, wherein the crown portion of other embodiments is omitted. In such case, the Velcro, buttons, snaps or other means of fastening the crown portion to the visor portion may also be omitted.
In the various embodiments described herein, the netting or hoop is preferably stitched directly to portions of the circumferential band of the visor portion. The netting or hoop may alternatively be secured to the circumferential band of the visor portion using buttons, snaps, Velcro or other hook and loop fastening material, for example.
The above and other features of the invention, including various novel details of construction and combinations of parts, will now be more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings and claims. It will be understood that the various exemplary embodiments of the invention described herein are shown by way of illustration only and not as a limitation thereof. The principles and features of this invention may be employed in various alternative embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the apparatus and methods of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:
Alternatively, the circumferential band 21 may be made circumferentially adjustable by splitting the band 21 at its rear portion so as to comprise a first free end 21b and a second free end 21c, for example, as in
To this end, referring to
In some embodiments, as shown in
In other embodiments, as shown in
In still another embodiment, as shown in
Another embodiment of the headgear 1 described herein comprises the visor portion 20 with netting or hoop 30 secured thereto, as in
In practice, referring to
The various exemplary embodiments of the invention as described hereinabove do not limit different embodiments of the present invention. The material described herein is not limited to the materials, designs, or shapes referenced herein for illustrative purposes only, and may comprise various other materials, designs or shapes suitable for the systems and procedures described herein as should be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art.
While there has been shown and described what is considered to be preferred embodiments of the invention, it will, of course, be understood that various modifications and changes in form or detail could readily be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. It is therefore intended that the invention be not limited to the exact forms described and illustrated herein, but should be construed to cover all modifications that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.
Claims
1. Headgear comprising:
- a visor portion;
- a crown portion separably secured to the visor portion;
- a substantially circumferential band attached to the visor portion and extending outwardly from the visor portion for fitting around a person's head; and
- a netting secured to the visor portion and the circumferential band, and the netting being open at each end thereof and the openings at each end of the netting being larger than openings in the netting.
2. The headgear of claim 1, wherein the circumferential band is sized to fit a wearer thereof.
3. The headgear of claim 2, wherein the crown portion further comprises a circumferential band that fits over the circumferential band of the visor portion when the crown portion is separably secured to the visor portion.
4. The headgear of claim 3, wherein at least one of the respective circumferential bands of the visor portion and the crown portion is circumferentially adjustable.
5. The headgear of claim 4, further comprising fastening means along at least portions of each of the circumferential band of the crown portion and the circumferential band of the visor portion and aligned to separably secure the crown portion with the visor portion by separably fastening the respective circumferential bands to one another.
6. The headgear of claim 5, wherein the fastening means is selected from the group consisting of elastic, VELCRO®, other hook and loop fastening material, buttons and corresponding button receptacles, and snaps and corresponding snap receptacles.
7. The headgear of claim 4, wherein the circumferential band of the visor portion comprises a first free end and a second free end, the first free end and the second free end configured to overlap one another to achieve adjustment of the circumferential band of the visor portion.
8. The headgear of claim 7, wherein one of the first free end and the second free end further comprises holes and the other of the first free end and the second free end further comprises projections, at least one of the projections being received in a corresponding hole to adjust a size of the circumferential band of the visor portion to a wearer.
9. The headgear of claim 7, wherein each of the first free end and the second free end further comprise VELCRO®, or other hook and loop fastening material, configured to adjust a size of the circumferential band of the visor portion to a wearer.
10. The headgear of claim 2, further comprising fastening means for securing the netting or hoop to the circumferential band of the visor portion, wherein the fastening means provided on the netting or hoop and the circumferential band of the visor portion.
11. The headgear of claim 10, wherein the fastening means is selected from the group consisting of thread, VELCRO® or other hook and loop fastening material, buttons and corresponding receptacles, and snaps and corresponding snap receptacles.
12. The headgear of claim 1, further comprising a bill extending from the visor portion, the bill configured to secure the visor portion in a position rendering the netting or hoop available for articles to be tossed therein said netting or hoop.
13. Headgear comprising:
- a visor portion;
- a substantially circumferential band attached to the visor portion and extending outwardly from the visor portion; and
- a netting secured to the visor portion and the circumferential band, and the netting being open at each end thereof and the openings at each end of the netting being larger than openings in the netting.
14. (canceled)
15. The headgear of claim 13, wherein the circumferential band is further comprised at least partly of an elastic material rendering the circumferential band adjustable according to a size of a wearer thereof.
16. The headgear of claim 13, wherein the circumferential band is further comprised of a first free end and a second free end, the first free end and the second free end configured to overlap and secure to one another to adjust the size of the circumferential band according to a size of a wearer thereof.
17. The headgear of claim 16, wherein means for securing the first free end with the second free end is selected from the group consisting of holes and corresponding projections provided on the respective first and second free ends, or VELCRO® or other hook and loop fastening material provided on the respective first and second free ends.
18. The headgear of claim 15, further comprising fastening means selected from the group consisting of thread, VELCRO® or other hook and loop fastening material, buttons and corresponding receptacles, and snaps and corresponding receptacles for securing the netting or hoop to the circumferential band of the visor portion.
19. A method of deploying a netting integrated into a headgear comprised of a crown portion separably secured to a visor portion, wherein the netting is secured to the visor portion and a circumferential band extending outwardly from the visor portion, the visor portion having a bill extending therefrom, and the netting being open at each end thereof and the openings at each end of the netting being larger than openings in the netting, the method comprising:
- removing the crown portion from the visor portion and the circumferential band;
- extending the netting from the visor portion and the circumferential band; and
- securing the bill of the visor portion to render the netting available to throw articles through the netting.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the bill is secured between a door and an edge of the door.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 24, 2006
Publication Date: Feb 14, 2008
Applicant: Hat Games, Inc. (Lindenhurst, NY)
Inventors: John Cestare (Lindenhurst, NY), Scott McManus (Farmingville, NY)
Application Number: 11/491,688
International Classification: A42B 1/24 (20060101);