ARTICLE AND METHOD FOR WIRE EMBEDDED HEADWEAR

Abstract

A deformable article of headwear constructed from a yarn impregnated with a malleable wire. The impregnated yarn is comprised of a headwear material comprised of a natural or synthetic fiber used for making headwear, including straw, cotton, or a composite material. Optionally, lacquer may be applied to the article to improve its ability to retain shape, however, the article would maintain its shape even after degradation of the lacquer dues to the impregnated yarn.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

Not Applicable

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable

SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

Hats and other headwear are often constructed with a material that is woven and then pressed into a rigid shape. Because hat bodies are initially soft and do not hold their shape, the hat is usually pressed, or “blocked,” and then stiffened with a lacquer several times during the manufacturing process. The resulting stiffened hats often have varying crown shapes that cannot be easily adjusted to fit the shape of a user's head. Hats that are capable of being reshaped often lose this ability once the lacquer begins to deteriorate. For example, if a hat has a long oval crown shape and a user's head has a round crown shape, the hat will not fit comfortably onto the user's head. Because the cost of constructing a custom hat is high, and hatters are difficult to locate, it would be desirable to have an article of headwear entirely constructed from a malleable material that can be shaped by the user.

Information relevant to attempts to address these problems can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,061,835, 5,621,921, 2,477,240, and 2,437,525. However, each of these references suffers from one or more of the following disadvantages.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,835 to Lien discloses a hat having a resilient wire stretcher inserted along the border of the brim to stretch the brim into shape, and an endless binding cord mounted in the brim and surrounded by the resilient wire stretcher. The endless binding cord can be pulled by hand to deform the brim and the resilient wire stretcher. However, the invention uses a resilient wire to stretch the brim of the hat brim into its maximum diameter. The maximum diameter of the hat brim is limited by the diameter of the brim material and can only be reduced in size or shape by pulling the binding cord to make the diameter of the brim smaller.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,921 to Outland discloses a hat or collar using a tubular sleeve of an oval annular configuration. The sleeve is composed of a flexible fabric having sufficient body and firmness to retain full malleable wire capable of being deformed by hand and is placed within the sleeve. The wire is of a length and configuration to fit within, conform to, and generally define an outer periphery of the annular configuration of the sleeve throughout most of the length of that periphery. It is preferably stitched in position so that it can slip somewhat relative to the fabric as the malleable wire is deformed by hand. However, the invention of Outland merely comprises a wire stitched into a tubular sleeve to form a malleable collar or hat, the entirety of the article is not malleable in shape.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,477,240 to Elishewitz discloses a hat sweat band comprising an internal reed with a protective sheet of thermoplastic material and an internal finishing strip adapted to directly engage the head of the wearer. However, Elishewitz discloses a sleeve of thermoplastic and a reed within said reed to create a sweatband that is easier to construct and uses less stitching, it is not a malleable body article of headwear.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,437,525 to Harvel discloses a hat with a crocheted crown and brim portion, each providing a core comprising a substantially circular ring of resilient flexible material. The invention of Harvel provides for a hat with a deformable crown, brim, or other limited area where a core having a resilient flexible material is incorporated into the article.

From the foregoing references, it can be understood that it would be desirable to have an article of headwear constructed from a material having a continuously embedded wire, making any area or shape on the article easily and repeatedly deformable. The solution is found in the present disclosure, which comprises an article of headwear constructed or weaved with an impregnated yarn having a continuously embedded malleable wire.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure is directed to a process that satisfies this need for an article of headwear having a repeatedly deformable shape throughout. The headwear article is woven or constructed with an impregnated yarn material comprising a continuously embedded malleable wire.

The embedded wire will provide strength and the ability to reshape the finished hat with little or no lacquer applied during the manufacturing process. A portion or the entire hat body may be woven with the impregnated yarn to yield the desired advantages of the present disclosure. This disclosed process may be utilized with any method of hat construction, such as hand-weaving, automated construction, or by sewing of impregnated yarns to make a hat body.

An additional advantage of the present disclosure is the ability to change the hat body or crown shape as desired. At retail stores, the volume of inventory can be reduced since hats can be adjusted or blocked for each customer head size. At the consumer level, the user can repeatedly adjust the hat to accommodate their particular head size or shape.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a front-top perspective view of a hat embodying features of the present invention for a wire embedded headwear article.

FIG. 2 illustrates a top sectional view of the hat brim illustrated in FIG. 1 for a wire embedded headwear article embodying features of the present invention for a wire embedded headwear article.

FIG. 3 illustrates top sectional view of the application of a headwear material being wrapped onto a continuous malleable wire to form an impregnated yarn embodying features of the present invention for a wire embedded headwear article.

FIG. 4 illustrates top sectional view of the finished impregnated yarn comprising a continuously embedded malleable wire embodying features of the present invention for a wire embedded headwear article.

FIG. 5 illustrates top cut-away view of the finished impregnated yarn comprising a continuously embedded malleable wire embodying features of the present invention for a wire embedded headwear article.

DESCRIPTION

As shown in FIGS. 1-5, a wire embedded headwear article and method comprises a headwear article 100 constructed from an impregnated yarn 200 that comprises a headwear material 202 with a continuously embedded malleable wire 204. While the present disclosure illustrates a method for a wire embedded headwear article, it should be understood that the method may be applied to other articles of clothing, accessories, or the like.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, a deformable article of headwear 100 may be constructed using techniques typically used for making hats, including weaving a yarn-like material or creating a fabric from the impregnated yarn 200 and then forming the hat body 104 and crown 102. By using an impregnated yarn 200 to construct the headwear, the resulting article is capable of being repeatedly formed by hand or with a blocking technique.

As illustrated in FIGS. 3-5, the headwear material 202 to may be any natural or synthetic fiber used for making headwear, including straw, cotton, or a composite material. The malleable wire 204 may be any natural or synthetic material having a deformable nature, is capable of retaining its deformed shape, and can be repeatedly deformed without losing structural integrity. To make the impregnated yarn 200 with a continuously embedded malleable wire 204, the selected headwear material 202 can be wrapped around the malleable wire 204 at angle so that the length of the wire continues to be covered as the headwear material 202 is being wrapped. In an alternative embodiment, the malleable wire 204 can be coated with the headwear material 202 by techniques such as dipping the malleable wire 204 into a liquefied material or passing the malleable wire 204 under a cascade of the liquefied material 202. In yet another embodiment, the malleable wire 204 may be sprayed with a liquefied form of the headwear material 202.

Upon completing construction of the headwear article 100, the ability of the article to retain its shape may be optionally improved with application of lacquer using methods typically used for hat making.

All features disclosed in this specification, including any accompanying claim, abstract, and drawings, may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

Any element in a claim that does not explicitly state “means for” performing a specified function, or “step for” performing a specific function, is not to be interpreted as a “means” or “step” clause as specified in 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6. In particular, the use of “step of” in the claims herein is not intended to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph 6.

Although preferred embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, various modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustration and not limitation.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing a wire embedded headwear article, comprising the steps of:

(a) Impregnating yarn or a yarn-like material with a malleable wire therein; and

(b) Weaving an article of headwear using said impregnated yarn or yarn-like material.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of applying lacquer to the article of headwear.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said impregnated yarn or yarn-like material is used to weave a fabric, which is then used to form the article of headwear.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the yarn or yarn-like material is impregnated with a malleable wire by wrapping headwear material around the malleable wire at angle so that the entire length of the wire is covered.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the yarn or yarn-like material is formed by either dipping or spraying the malleable wire into a liquefied headwear material, or passing the malleable wire under a cascade of liquefied headwear material.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the yarn or yarn-like material is formed by inserting the malleable wire into the yarn or yarn-like material.

7. A wire embedded headwear article utilizing the method of claim 1, comprising yarn or yarn-like material having a continuously malleable wire embedded therein.

8. The embedded headwear article of claim 7, wherein the yarn or yarn-like material is made from a headwear material that is wrapped around the entire length of the malleable wire.

9. The embedded headwear article of claim 7, wherein the yarn or yarn-like material is made from a malleable wire that is coated with liquefied headwear material.

10. The embedded headwear article of claim 7, wherein the malleable wire is inserted into the yarn or yarn-like material.