Display headband
A display headband is a band which displays an indicium perpendicular to the sizable band that wraps around the head. The headband can adjust to many sizes, from a child's head to large adult size. The headband can be manufactured for many purposes of display, according to the desired indicia. This headband can be made of soft, flexible materials which can be easily folded for storage, and is lightweight but displays the indicia in an upright position perpendicular to the band around the head.
The invention relates to a headband with a display indicia.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONHeadbands are worn for personal decoration, for absorption of perspiration and sometimes for display of a name or sponsor. Most display headbands are not worn around the head, but across the top of the head from ear-to-ear. This is not very stable, nor very comfortable. A more comfortable way to wear a display headband is as, for example, a sizable band around the head, such as an absorbent sport band, or other type of stretchable or sizable band that is not necessarily absorbent, with an upright indicia display. Known sport headbands may have a display of an indicium on the portion of the headband that lies flat above or on the forehead. The headband presented herein is more useful than other display headbands, which also do not effectively display the indicia.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONA display headband as described herein is a band which displays an indicium perpendicular to the sizable band that wraps around the head. This headband is advantageous because it can be made of soft, flexible materials which can be easily folded for storage, and is lightweight but displays the indicia in an upright position perpendicular to the band around the head. Because the band is sizable, the headband can adjust to many sizes, from a child's head to large adult size. The headband can be manufactured for many purposes of display, according to the desired indicia. The applicability of the headband herein described is further exemplified in the accompanying drawings. It is hereby declared that depiction of some of the university letters and mascots or logos are protected by trademark and/or copyright laws, recognized herein, and are displayed as examples of possible headbands.
The display headbands described herein can be worn to show support for the wearer's sport team, whether collegiate, other school, club or professional, in celebration of a birthday, to support a cause, or clubs, such as sororities and fraternities, as an advertisement or to display any desired message. Display headbands can also be prepared with indicia for children, such as Disney characters, comic book characters and superheroes, among others.
The headband is made of an adjustable band worn around the head and a display indicium attached thereto. The adjustable band is adjustable by using any material which can be made to adjust to a person's head circumference, such as elastic, elasticized fabric, or non-elastic material such as leather, plastic, cardboard, thin foam, elasticized fabric, rope, twine, and combinations thereof which can be made to adjust with serially placed snaps, serially placed grippers, serially placed hooks and eyes, hook-and-loop fasteners, serially placed buttons with opposing buttonhole, magnetic strips, and combinations thereof.
Any number of indicia may be removably or non-removably attached to the headband. The indicia can be constructed of any material which can be made into indicia or which will support the imprint or screen of indicia such as stiffened fabric, thin wood, thin foam plastic, thin stiff plastic, moldable plastic, rubber, cardboard, and combinations thereof. Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) foam of various thicknesses, for example, 2 mm, 4 mm and/or 6 mm is a useful material for making indicia. The indicia can be monograms, depictions of mascots, school letters, flags, names, logos, insignia, images, messages, banners, pictures, and combinations thereof. Non-removable attachment may be achieved by the use of glue, grommets, rivets, sewing (stitching), staples, or combinations thereof. Removable attachment may be achieved by the use of snaps, grippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, buttons and buttonholes, magnetic strips, reusable adhesives or combination thereof. These display headbands are advantageous for wearing at events attended by many fans. In addition to being attractive, they are practical in that the display is not hand-held. The wearer can display his or her loyalty without forgoing the opportunity to clap, perform the “wave” or use the hands for other activities, such as holding food or drinks. The display headbands described herein are light-weight, and do not impede the view of the wearer, or other attendees at the function, nor do they necessitate any paint or other coloring on the body to display loyalty. Yet the display is obvious. The headbands are foldable, and can be carried easily in a pocket or bag. Should wearers hug or display other contact, the softness of the display headbands would not cause injury to any party should they be knocked about during displays of enthusiasm.
It is clear that the logos of many institutions are protected under trademark and copyright laws, and the figures included herein are as examples. Likewise, any descriptions of the display headbands include such trademarked and copyrighted material strictly for purposes of exemplifying the numerous applications and uses of the display headband.
This same concept is used for the display headband for the University of Wisconsin. In this case, the mascot is a stylized Badger and the school letter is a stylized W. The Badger mascot picture, black on white, would be screened onto a first surface of a suitable material of a suitable size. This mascot piece would then be attached to a red “W” of suitable material by an attachment means, such as glue or stitching, or other suitable type of attachment. The full logo of the red “W” and the silk screened Badger would then be attached to a suitable red, black or white stretchable headband to form the wearable display headband.
The letters and logos of different universities present different types of display problems. For example, the University of Texas at Austin, in
Another type of display headband is, for example a flag indicium.
The display headband can be made for celebratory events, as well. Using materials of choice, the display can be for a birthday, such as shown in
The headband can be made sizable by a number of methods. Adjustable closure methods are known, such as spaced buttons and a button hole on the opposite side of a band.
As can be understood from the descriptions above, any display indicia can be screened or otherwise printed onto the display material to construct the display headband. It is not necessary that the indicia be multi-dimensional, although, the multi-dimensional mode is one of the embodiments.
EXAMPLES Example 1A Stanford display headband was prepared from soft plastic foam and woven elastic. The “S” for Stanford was shaped and cut out of 4 mm-thick red soft plastic foam. The “S” was a block letter about six inches high and four inches wide. The tree was shaped and cut out of 2 mm-thick green soft plastic foam. The tree was a stylized cedar tree shape about six inches high and about three inches wide at its widest branch, tapering smaller to the top. A band for circling the head was cut as a 4 cm (1¾ inch) wide and 47 cm (18¾ inch) long piece of 2 mm-thick gray soft plastic foam. The tree was attached to the “S” with craft glue, both in an upright position, and this combination was then attached with the same glue to the center of the gray foam band. To adjust for the size of the wearer's head, the ends of the gray band were each stapled to a length of 2-inch wide woven elastic (a sewing notion). The length of this elastic may be between about 4 inches and about 6 inches, and adjusts to various head circumferences.
Example 2A Stanford display headband was prepared from soft plastic foam and a stretchable nylon headband. The “S” for Stanford was shaped and cut out of 4 mm-thick red soft plastic foam. The “S” was a block letter about six inches high and four inches wide. The tree was shaped and cut out of 2 mm-thick green soft plastic foam. The tree was a stylized cedar tree shape about six inches high and about three inches wide at its widest branch, tapering smaller to the top. The tree was attached to the “S” with craft glue, both in an upright position. The nylon headband has an eighteen-inch circumference without stretching, and can be stretched to at least twenty-five inches, generally considered a “one-size-fits-all” headband. The “S”/tree logo was then sewn to a black nylon headband with black thread. The sewing can be performed using a sewing machine, or stitched by hand.
Example 3A flag headband can be prepared from 2 mm EVA foam (Ethylene Vinyl Acetate foam) and a stretchable nylon headband. An American flag is silk screened onto white EVA foam using blue and red dye and a 4.25-inch by 5-inch die. This silk-screened flag is then sewn onto a white 2-inch wide by 7-inch long (flattened size) stretchable headband.
Example 4A mascot only headband, for example the Bowling Green Falcon can be prepared by screening the picture of the falcon onto the 2 mm EVA foam, which is then glued onto a brown 2-inch wide by 7-inch long (flattened size) stretchable headband.
Example 5A display headband for a professional sports team is exemplified by a headband displaying the logo of the Boston Breakers Women's Professional Soccer Team. The Breakers logo is screen printed onto 2 mm EVA foam and this indicium is then sewn onto a black 2-inch wide by 7-inch long (flattened size) stretchable headband
As is clear from the foregoing description, illustrative examples and the following claims, various modifications, additions and alternatives will be apparent to one of skill in the art and these would fall into the scope of the claims herein. All changes and variations are to be considered as equivalents, and would fall within the scope of these claims.
Claims
1. A display headband comprising a band adjustable along the horizontal axis and an indicium attached perpendicular thereto.
2. A display headband as in claim 1 wherein the adjustable band is constructed of material selected from the group consisting of: fabric, elastic, leather, plastic, cardboard, thin foam, elasticized fabric, rope, twine, and combinations thereof.
3. A display headband as in claim 1 wherein the adjustable band is made adjustable with material selected from the group consisting of: elastic, elasticized fabric, serially placed snaps, serially placed grippers, serially placed hooks and eyes, hook-and-loop fasteners, serially placed buttons with opposing buttonhole, magnetic strips, and combinations thereof.
4. A display headband as in claim 1 wherein the indicia is constructed of material selected from the group consisting of: stiff fabric, thin wood, thin foam plastic, thin stiff plastic, moldable plastic, rubber, cardboard, and combinations thereof.
5. A display headband as in claim 1 wherein the indicia is selected from the group consisting of monograms, depictions of mascots, school letter or letters, flags, names, messages, banners, pictures, and combinations thereof.
6. A display headband as in claim 1 wherein the adjustable band and the indicia are removably or non-removably attached.
7. A headband as in claim 6 wherein the means of removable attachment is selected from the group consisting of: snaps, grippers, hook-and-loop fasteners, buttons and buttonholes, magnetic strips, reusable adhesives and combination thereof.
8. A display headband as in claim 6 wherein the means of non-removable attachment is selected from the group consisting of: glue, grommets, rivets, sewing (stitching), staples, and combinations thereof.
9. A display headband as in claim 1 comprising an adjustable band of elasticized fabric and an indicium depicting a flag screened onto thin plastic foam.
10. A display headband comprised of an adjustable band comprising fabric, elasticized fabric or elastic, and a non-removably attached indicia constructed of material as in claim 4 comprising: a monogram, school letter or letters, mascot or logo, message indicia or a combination thereof.
11. A display headband as in claim 10 comprising an adjustable band of elasticized fabric and a combination of school letter or letters and depiction of a school mascot non-removably attached thereto.
12. A display headband as in claim 10 comprising an adjustable band of elasticized fabric and a depiction of a birthday cake attached thereto.
13. A display headband as in claim 1 comprising a sizable band of elastic fabric and a message indicium.
14. A display headband as in claim 1 comprising a sizable band of elastic fabric and a school letter and logo or mascot attached non-removably thereto.
15. A display headband as in claim 1 wherein the indicium is printed or screened onto thin plastic foam which is non-removably attached to a sizable band of elastic fabric.
16. A display headband as in claim 1 wherein a message is screened onto thin plastic foam which is non-removably attached to a sizable band of elastic fabric.
17. A display headband wherein the indicium and part of the sizable band are formed from thin plastic foam to which is attached a length of elastic fabric to effect the stretch to achieve variation in size around the head of the wearer.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 26, 2009
Publication Date: Apr 28, 2011
Inventors: Theresa Popp Braun (Holland, OH), Gertrude Martha Pfaffenbach (Larchmont, NY), Lainey M. Richardson (Los Gatos, CA)
Application Number: 12/589,607
International Classification: A42B 1/24 (20060101);