Combination Sweatshirt and Travel Pillow

Abstract

A wearable garment that is a combination sweatshirt and pillow. The sweatshirt has a body, arms, a collar and a hood attached to the collar. A pouch having an open top, closed sides, and a closed bottom is attached to the collar. The pouch lies over the sweatshirt body when in a first position and is rotated over the top to a second position for receiving the sweatshirt body and arms when they are rolled and inserted into the pouch forming a pillow. The hood can be placed over a user's head with the pouch oriented against the user's neck to function as a pillow. In a second embodiment, the garment is provided with a second hood over the first hood. In a third embodiment, a pouch is sewn into a liner in the hood which receives the sweatshirt.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based on and claims the priority of U.S. Provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/293,517 filed Feb. 10, 2016.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a sweatshirt or sweater that can be rolled up to form a travel pillow having a hood to cover the user's head and face if desired.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Travelers seek comfort and rest while traveling on plane, train, boat or any other transportation system. However, if the traveler wants to rest or take a nap while traveling, it is difficult to find a comfortable position to support one's head. Having a pillow to support your head and neck comfortably has always been a concern. Various travel pillows have been designed and sold in the past. There are inflatable pillows, pillows jammed into stuff sacks, pillows that have their own carrying case, and pillows made of numerous materials. A shortcoming of all of these pillows is that they have a single function, namely they function as a pillow only.

Travelers also like to have an article of clothing that is easy to put on, provides warmth when needed, is easy to transport and is wrinkle resistant. Generally, travelers prefer sweatshirts or sweaters as they are comfortable, warm, easy to store, wrinkle free and easily stored. In addition. these articles of clothing can have a hood attached to the collar which provides additional warmth and the ability to cover one's head and eyes if trying to block out the ambient light and can provide a level of privacy.

There has never been designed a combination pillow and sweatshirt that provides both of these functions in a singular device, all within its own carrying pouch. The inventive device functions as a sweatshirt that is easily and quickly transformed into a pillow with or without the use of a hood at the top of the sweatshirt. The sweatshirt is easy to store as it folds into itself. When unfolded, it can be worn as a sweatshirt or tied around the user's waist.

Applicant's invention is a sweatshirt, sweater or jacket (which will be referred to herein as a “sweatshirt” or “sweater”) with a storage compartment or pouch formed in the top of the sweatshirt. In the first embodiment, the user simply folds or rolls up the sweatshirt and stuffs it into a pouch sewn into the collar of the sweatshirt. When rolled up and stored in this manner the sweatshirt becomes a pillow. If the sweatshirt has a hood, the sweatshirt can be used with or without the hood.

In a second embodiment, wherein the sweatshirt has a double hood, one being an exterior hood and the other being an interior hood, the interior hood can function as the pouch that receives the rolled-up sweatshirt. The hood has drawstrings to adjust the firmness of the pillow and hold the pillow in place on the user. The outer hood can be used in the conventional manner when the sweatshirt is rolled up and stored in the inner hood.

In a third embodiment, the sweatshirt has a double hood similar to the second embodiment, one being the exterior hood and the other being the interior hood. A flexible liner is sewn into the interior of the interior hood. A rectangular pocket with an open bottom is sewn into the flexible liner to form a pouch having three closed sides and an open bottom. The sweatshirt body is folded into the pouch and drawstrings tighten the pouch to keep the sweatshirt in the pouch and to adjust the firmness of the pillow. The pouch opening can be supplied with a closure to close the bottom and keep the folded sweatshirt from falling out. The outer hood can still be used as in the conventional manner when the sweatshirt is rolled up and stored in the pouch.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the inventive sweatshirt/pillow.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the pouch sewn into the collar and flipped upward 180° from the normal position.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front perspective view of the pouch being pulled open by the user.

FIG. 4 is a front perspective view of the sweatshirt being positioned to be rolled up.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are front perspective views as the sweatshirt is being rolled up.

FIG. 7 is a front perspective view of the rolled-up sweatshirt ready to be pushed into the partially open pouch.

FIG. 8 is a front perspective view of the sweatshirt being pushed into the pouch.

FIG. 9 is a front perspective view of the sweatshirt after it is stored in the pouch and the hood is pulled away from the pouch to form the pillow.

FIG. 10 is a side perspective view of the user placing the hood of the sweatshirt over his head.

FIG. 11 is a side perspective view of the hood placed over the user's head with the pillow positioned at the user's neck.

FIG. 12 is a side perspective view of the hood and pillow placed behind the user's neck.

FIG. 13 is a front perspective view of an alternate embodiment in which the sweatshirt has a first or outer hood and a second or inner hood within the first hood.

FIG. 14 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 3 showing the pouch being pulled opened.

FIGS. 15 and 16 are front perspective views of the alternate embodiment with the sweatshirt being rolled up.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view of the pouch being pulled open so that it can receive the rolled-up sweatshirt.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view of the rolled-up sweatshirt stored in the pouch.

FIG. 19 is a side perspective view of the hood placed over the user's head with the pillow positioned at the user's neck.

FIGS. 20 through 22 illustrate a third alternate embodiment in which an inner lining is sewn inside the first or inner hood forming a pouch in the inner hood.

FIG. 23 is another alternate embodiment similar to the third embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 20 through 22 except the inner lining is sewn into the outer (and only) hood.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning first to FIG. 1 there is illustrated the first embodiment of the inventive sweatshirt/pillow 10. Although the word “sweatshirt” is used throughout, it is meant to include such articles of clothing worn bout the user's torso including, but not limited to a sweatshirt, shirt, sweater, jacket, or windbreaker. The sweatshirt 10 is illustrated as a hooded sweatshirt having a body 12 and sleeves 14. The sweatshirt has a collar 15 at the top of the 12 in a conventional manner. There is a hood 16 which has drawstrings 17 on either side in order to tighten the hood around the user's head. There is a pouch 18 formed from a front sheet of material 20 and a rear sheet of material 22. The front and rear sheets 20 and 22 are joined, generally by sewing, along two sides 24, 26 and a bottom edge 28. A top 30 does not have the front and rear sheets 20, 22 sewn together, but rather only the top of the rear sheet 22 is attached to the collar 15 thus forming an open top in the pouch 18. The rear sheet 22 is attached to the collar 15 by sewing, hook and loop fasteners, buttons, zippers or other suitable means. Optionally the pouch 18 may have soft flexible anchoring loops 32, 34 which attach to buttons on the inside of the sweatshirt 10 to secure the pouch 18 in place while being worn as a sweatshirt. The pouch 18 is preferably made of soft flexible material that provides a comfortable surface when it is in contact with the user. Preferred materials are cotton or a cotton/polyester blend. The comfort and flexibility allows the pouch to perform the functions it is designed to perform as will be more fully described below.

As seen in FIG. 2, the pouch 18 has been flipped upward 180° so that the bottom edge 28 and top 30 are easily seen. In this mode, the bottom edge 28 is now oriented on top and the top 30 is now disposed below the bottom edge 28. Because the top edge of the front sheet 20 is sewn to the collar, the rear sheet 22 can be raised and lifted away from the front sheet 20, as seen in FIG. 3. This forms an opening 36, similar to a pocket, towards the top edge 30 of the pouch 18.

FIGS. 4-9 are progressive photographs of the sweatshirt 10 being folded and rolled up into the pouch 18. FIG. 4 illustrates the hooded sweatshirt 10 with the sleeves 14 folded inwardly across the 12. FIG. 5 shows the body 12 of the sweatshirt 10 being rolled upward towards the pouch 18. FIG. 6 illustrates the hooded sweatshirt 10 being further rolled up toward the pouch 18. FIG. 7 shows the hooded sweatshirt rolled up to the collar 15 and to the top 30 with the pouch 18 flipped upward into the direction of the hood 16. The opening 36 in the top 30 is being spread to an open position by the user. FIG. 8 shows the user stuffing the sweatshirt 10 into the opening 36 in the pouch 18. FIG. 9 shows the entire sweatshirt 10 completely stuffed into the pouch 18 so that the only part of the sweatshirt 10 that is outside of the pouch 18 is the hood 16.

FIG. 10 shows the user placing the hood 16 over his head while the pouch 18 drops down past his head and lies adjacent to his neck as illustrated in FIG. 11. The stored sweatshirt 10 now forms the pillow. In this position, the drawstrings 17 are tightened and the hood 16 not only covers the users head but can cover the user's eyes for added light blockage and ease of napping. The tightening of the drawstrings results in the hood assuming the position in FIG. 11 with the pouch now acting as a pillow to support the user's head. FIG. 12 illustrates the invention with the hood removed from the top of the user's head and pushed down on top of the pouch 18 to give added support to the back of the user's neck.

The second embodiment is illustrated in FIGS. 13-19. In FIG. 13 there is illustrated a sweatshirt having a first or outer hood 16 and a second or inner hood 38 within the first hood 16. For clarification, we will call the hood 16 the outer hood and the second hood 38 the inner hood. In FIG. 14 the inner hood 38 is seen as it is pulled away from the outer hood 16. The sweatshirt 10 is then rolled up as in the first embodiment. In FIG. 15 the sweatshirt's sleeves 14 are being folded onto each other across the body 12. In FIG. 16, the body 12 and sleeves 14 are being rolled up toward the inner hood 38. FIG. 17 shows the inner hood 38 being opened to receive the body 12 and sleeves 14 and in FIG. 18 the body 12 and sleeves 14 have been stuffed into the inner hood 38. In this manner, the body 12 and sleeves 14 are stored in the inner hood 38, which functions as a pouch, rather than in a separate pouch as described in the first embodiment.

FIG. 19 shows the user with the outer hood 16 over the user's head and the inner hood 30 with the sleeves 14 and body 12 stuffed within it, functioning as a pillow behind the user's head. As in the previous embodiment, the drawstrings 17 can be used to tighten the inner or outer hoods to maintain the stuffed body 12 and sleeves 14 within the inner hood 38 while tightening the outer hood 16 around the user's head.

FIG. 20 through FIG. 22 illustrate the third embodiment, which is a variation of the double hood embodiment. A soft, flexible inner lining 40 is sewn inside the inner hood 38. The lining 40 is sewn around its outer edges into the inner hood 38 but a portion of the lowermost portion of the liner 42 is left unsewn. FIG. 21 is an enlarged view of the hoods in which a lining 40 is stitched to form a rectangular storage region or pouch 44 within the lining 40. Stitching 46 goes from each side of the inner hood 38 for several inches, then the stitching 46 goes vertically upward toward the crown of the inner hood 38 for approximately six to nine inches, but in no case all the way to the top or crown of the inner hood 38. Then the stitching 46 proceeds toward the center to form the substantially rectangular pouch 44 with an opening 48 at the bottom of the pouch 44. However, it must be noted that the pouch 44 does not have to be rectangular, and in fact it may be semicircular in shape. The important point is that it is sufficiently large to hold the entire sweater when the sweatshirt body 12 and sleeves 12 are rolled up and stuffed into the pouch 44.

In this third embodiment, the sweatshirt body 12 and sleeves 14 are folded and rolled as previously described. The rolled body 12 and sleeves 14 are stuffed into the pouch 44 through the opening 48 at the bottom of the pouch 44. The drawstrings 17 on the inner hood 38 are used to tighten the pouch 44 to keep the folded sweatshirt inside the pouch and to adjust the compression on the sweatshirt which in turn adjusts the firmness of the pillow. The pouch 44 can be provided with a button hole 50 to receive a button 52 for keeping the opening 48 closed and so that the sweatshirt does not inadvertently come out of the pouch. The button 52 also can be used to keep the pouch 44 closed when the sweatshirt 10 is being worn as a sweatshirt and not being used as a pillow. A Velcro® hook and loop fastener, zipper, or other similar device for providing a closure means can similarly be used for the same function.

FIG. 23 illustrates a design similar to that which is illustrated in FIG. 22 except that it is used with the single hood, not the double hood. The pouch 44 is sewn into the hood 16 with an open bottom 48. In all other aspects, it functions as described in the embodiment shown in FIGS. 20 through 22.

Thus, there has been provided a combination sweatshirt and travel pillow that fully satisfies the objects set forth above. While the invention has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the foregoing description. Accordingly, it is intended to embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variations as fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A combination sweatshirt and pillow comprising:

a sweatshirt comprising a sweatshirt body, arms, a collar at the top of the sweatshirt body, and a hood, the hood attached to the collar,

a pouch having an open top, closed sides, and a closed bottom, the open top attached to the collar,

the pouch lying over the sweatshirt body when in a first position when the sweatshirt is disposed in a sweatshirt orientation,

the pouch adapted for rotation about the open top to a second position for receiving in the open top when it is rotated to the second position the sweatshirt body and arms when they are rolled up towards the rotated open top, the sweatshirt body and arms inserted through the open top into the pouch forming a pillow,

whereby the hood can be placed over a user's head with the pouch oriented against the user's neck to function as a pillow.

2. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 1 wherein the pouch has a front sheet of material with a top, sides and a bottom, a rear sheet of material having a top, sides and a bottom, the front sheet attached to the rear sheet along the sides and the bottom with the top remaining open.

3. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 2 and further comprising attachment means for attaching the top of the rear sheet of material to the collar.

4. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 3 wherein the attachment means comprises sewing, hook and loop fasteners, zipper, or buttons.

5. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 4 and further comprising closure means for closing the open top of the pouch.

6. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 1 and further comprising a second hood disposed over the first hood.

7. A combination sweatshirt and pillow comprising:

a sweatshirt comprising a sweatshirt body, arms, a collar and a hood, the hood attached to the collar,

a pouch formed from a front sheet and a rear sheet of material, the front sheet and the rear sheets having opposed tops, sides and bottoms, the front sheet attached to the rear sheet along the opposed sides and bottoms and having an open top,

the top of the rear sheet attached to an area adjacent to the collar along a lateral line,

the pouch lying over the sweatshirt body when in a first position when the sweatshirt is disposed in a sweatshirt orientation,

the pouch adapted for rotation about the lateral line to a second position for receiving when in the second position the sweatshirt body and arms when they are rolled up towards the rotated open top, the sweatshirt body and arms inserted through the open top into the pouch forming a pillow,

whereby the hood can be placed over a user's head with the pouch oriented against the user's neck to function as a pillow.

8. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 2 and further comprising attachment means for attaching the top of the rear sheet of material to the collar.

9. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 3 wherein the attachment means comprises sewing, hook and loop fasteners, zipper, or buttons.

10. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 4 and further comprising closure means for closing the open top of the pouch.

11. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 1 and further comprising a second hood disposed over the first hood.

12. A combination sweatshirt and pillow comprising:

a sweatshirt comprising a sweatshirt body, arms, a collar at the top of the sweatshirt body, and a hood, the hood attached to the collar, the hood having a liner sheet disposed within the hood,

a pouch formed within the hood, the pouch having sides and a top that are stitched closed within the hood, the pouch having an open bottom disposed adjacent to the collar,

the pouch receiving in the open bottom the sweatshirt body and arms when they are rolled up towards the open bottom, the sweatshirt body and arms inserted through the open bottom in the pouch thus forming a pillow.

13. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 12 wherein the liner sheet has a top, bottom and sides, the top and sides are sewn into the hood with a portion of the bottom not being attached to the hood.

14. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 13 wherein the pouch is formed from stitching the pouches sides and top to the hood and liner sheet and the portion of the bottom of the liner sheet is not stitched forming the open bottom of the pouch to receive the sweatshirt body and arms.

15. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 14 wherein a portion of the bottom of the liner sheet is stitched to the hood thus forming a reduced size open bottom.

16. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 15 and further comprising closure means for closing the open bottom of the pouch.

17. The combination sweatshirt and pillow of claim 14 and further comprising a second hood disposed over the first hood.