Protective garment

Abstract

A garment comprising: at least one pocket; and at least one protective pad located within said at least one pocket; and at least one connecting structure for securing at least one optional protective pad to the garment the at least one connecting structure being capable of cooperating with a complementary connecting structure operatively connected to the at least one optional protective pad.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation-in-part of and claims the benefit from provisional application Ser. No. 61/322,261 filed Apr. 8, 2010 and, which is hereby incorporated by reference to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to padded garments having adjustable pads for athletes.

2. Background Art

Padded garments worn by athletes and sport enthusiasts typically include some form of padding to prevent injury to the athlete's body including the shoulders, sternum, spine, ribs, lower back, hips or coccyx. Such injuries can result from a multitude of athletic activities including football, hockey, field hockey, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, field hockey, cycling or in-line skating etc.

Known forms of padding for athletic apparel, include closed cell foam, gel-filled cavities, and inflatable cushions filled with pressurized fluid. These forms of padding are relatively inflexible and are not shaped to bend to the contour of the athlete's body and can hinder free movement.

The padding can be attached directly to the inside or outside of the garment or can be located within pockets. Typically the padding is fixedly attached to the garment when not located within a pocket through stitching or adhesive. When the padding is located within a pocket, it is known to fixedly attach the padding to the pocket through stitching or other means in order to prevent it from falling out. However, Further, current shoulder pads do not allow adjustment to the shoulder caps and other pads likewise do not allow for precise adjustment. Hockey players and other athletes are currently unable to custom adjust their protective padding on the garment to uniquely fit their particular bodies.

There exists a need in the art for protective padding that allows the athlete to adjust the various pads to precise positions that provide maximum protection during athletic events.

To that end, the present disclosure is directed to a garment with adjustable pads, wherein each pad comprises a plurality of components that can readily be adjustable to fit each athlete's body. Most of the additional adjustably positioned pads are hard plastic or similar material.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

A garment of the present disclosure comprises an article of clothing having at least one pocket with at least one pad located within the at least one pocket and at least one adjustable pad location operatively connected to the garment.

The shoulder pad garment assembly begins with a moisture wicking shirt 18. presently, the moisture wicking shirt comprises Cross linked polyethylene. However, the shirt “does not have to be specifically crossed linked polyethylene” but may be made of any material that provides the characteristics of a cross linked polyethylene. In one representative embodiment, pads may then be sewn into the shirt 18. Loops may be sewn on several places 22a, 22b, 22c, to attach various components 24, 26a, 26b, 28a, 28b. The various components may be attached to the loop with hook which may be attached to the underside of the various components 24, 26a, 26b, 28a, 28b. The hook and loop may reverse positions and achieve the same results. Industrial strength hook and loop are preferred. There are other possible solutions known to persons skilled in the art for attaching components such as snaps, straps, buttons etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate the present disclosure and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the disclosure and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the disclosure.

FIG. 1A is a front view of a short sleeve shirt incorporating pads and Velcro® loop.

FIG. 1B is a back view of the same short sleeve shirt illustrated in FIG. 1A.

FIG. 2A is a front view of the shirt illustrated in FIG. 1A with custom positioned protective pads operatively connected at strategic points on the garment.

FIG. 2B is a back view of the shirt illustrated in FIG. 2A with custom positioned protective pads operatively connected at strategic points on the garment.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the shirt with customizable pads illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 2A of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the shirt with customizable pads illustrated in FIGS. 1B and 2B of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The padded garment of the present disclosure comprises an article of clothing, such as, for example, a shirt with protective pads. The article of clothing may be, but is not limited to, for example, a long sleeve shirt, a short sleeve shirt, a sleeveless shirt, a pair of shorts, or a pair of pants. The padded garment may be worn as an undergarment or as an outermost layer, although the vast majority of applications may involve using the padded garment as an undergarment. The protective pads may be positioned to protect areas of the body prone to injury including, but not limited to, the ribs, shoulders, lower back, elbows, sternum, hips, coccyx, knees, or shins. The padded garments of the present disclosure are envisioned for use in sports, including but not limited to, football, rugby, hockey, field hockey, lacrosse, baseball, basketball, field hockey, cycling, ice skating, roller skating or in-line skating and the like.

Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are now described. While specific configurations and arrangements are discussed, it should be understood that this is done for illustrative purposes only. A person skilled in the relevant art will recognize that other configurations and arrangements may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. It will also be apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art that this disclosure may be employed in a variety of other, devices and applications.

FIG. 1A depicts a front view of a first embodiment of a padded garment in the form of a short sleeve moisture wicking shirt 18, although the disclosure is not limited in this regard. Ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) or similar protective pads (see, for example, U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2008/0022431, published Jan. 31, 2008, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference to the extent not inconsistent with the present disclosure) may then be operatively positioned in the shirt 18 by methods such as sewing, although the disclosure is not limited in this regard. Connecting structure, such as, for example, Velcro®, either a loop portion 22A, 22B, 22C, or a hook portion may be operatively connected to the shirt 18. In one embodiment, the shirt portion may be the Velcro loop at the pad portion may be the Velcro hook, although the disclosure is not limited in this regard. In the embodiment illustrated, in FIGS. 3 and 4, the Velcro loop portion may be attached to the wicking shirt and the Velcro hook portion may be operatively attached to the pads. In other embodiments, the connecting structure for attaching the various pad component's may include snaps, straps, buttons and the like, as would be understood by those skilled in the art, although the disclosure is not limited in this regard.

The basic elements of the protective pad shirt 18 is shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. The padded shirt 18 may be worn alone, if the player prefers minimal protection. Specifically, chest-padding 20a, shoulder padding 20b, back padding 20c and arm padding 20d, as shown in FIG. 1A. On the other hand, many elements can be added or removed in order to customize the protection afforded each athlete. The elements that may be added include, but are not limited to, shoulder caps 24, sternum late 26a, top spine plate 26b, middle spine plate 28a, and bottom of spine plate 28b, with the use of Velcro®, or other connecting element capable of securely holding the protective elements on the garment, based on the individual players preference thereby customizing the position of the various protective pads for each individual.

In one embodiment, the protective gear may be assembled by taking the basic body garment 18 having a plurality of pads located strategically operatively connected to and positioned in the garment and then operatively attaching various optional/customizing pads utilizing the hook and loop, or other connecting means, in strategic places where additional padding or protective devices is desired and may be attached. Different thicknesses of padding may be used to offer more or less protection, as desired. For example, using a 1-10 scale, ice hockey protective pads may be composed of a level 6 thickness while lacrosse protective pads may be composed of only a level 4. Football protective pads may be a level 10 thickness. There may also be different thicknesses for the pads that are incorporated into the basic element garment 18 for various levels of protection.

In use, the athlete may attach any of the desired attachable/removable/customizing components other than the shoulder caps 24 to the shirt 18. At this point, the athlete may put on the shirt 18 having the desired components, 26a, 26b, 28a, 28b, effectively operatively positioned. Once the desired components are operatively positioned on the shirt 18, the athlete may then put on the shirt. At this point, the athlete may adjust the connection of the shoulder caps 24 to their desired location. At this point, the upper body protective pads are ready for use. If the athlete is not about to enter into competition, he may remove the fully assembled protective shirt until the time of competition. The attaching material may be sufficient utility to maintain the protective pads in position before, during and after enduring athletic competition. Specifically, once the various protective pads have been attached to the shirt 18, they may remain connected so that the next time the athlete were to use the shirt with the various protective pads attached all they would have to do would be to put on the protective pad shirt like any other shirt.

It is to be appreciated that the Detailed Description section, and not the Summary and Abstract sections, is intended to be used to interpret the claims. The Summary and Abstract sections may set forth one or more but not all exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure as contemplated by the inventor, and thus, are not intended to limit the present disclosure and the appended claims in any way.

Claims

1. A garment comprising:

at least one pocket; and at least one protective pad located within said at least one pocket; and

at least one connecting structure for securing at least one optional protective pad to the garment the at least one connecting structure being capable of cooperating with a complementary connecting structure operatively connected to the at least one optional protective pad.

2. The garment of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one optional protective pad operatively connected to the garment by the at least one connecting structure.

3. The garment of claim 2, wherein the at least one optional protective pad is selected from the group comprising:

a shoulder cap, a sternum plate, a top spine plate, a middle spine plate or a bottom spine plate.

4. A garment comprising:

a plurality of pockets operatively positioned in the garment having a plurality of protective pads located within the plurality of pockets; and

a plurality of connecting structure for securing at least one of the plurality of optional protective pads to the garment, the plurality of connecting structure being capable of cooperating with a plurality of complementary connecting structure operatively connected to the plurality of optional protective pads.

5. The garment of claim 4, further comprising:

a plurality of optional protective pad operatively connected to the garment by the plurality of connecting structure

6. The garment of claim 5, wherein the plurality of optional protective pads is selected from the group comprising:

shoulder caps, a sternum plate, a top spine plate, a middle spine plate or a bottom spine plate.