HAT AND CAP RETAINER APPARATUS
A retainer capable of securing headwear to a user's head includes one or more keepers, one or more flexible elongated members, and an adjustment device. The one or more keepers may be capable of being secured to the headwear. The one or more flexible elongated members may extend from the one or more keepers and be capable of being positioned around at least a portion of the user's head (e.g., his or her chin, etc.). The adjustment device may enable adjustment of an effective length of the one or more flexible elongated members and, thus, tightening or loosening of the one or more flexible elongated members relative to the portion of the user's head around which they are positioned (e.g., the user's chin, etc.).
A claim for the benefit of priority to the Dec. 29, 2017 filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/612,300, titled HAT AND CAP RETAINER APPARATUS (“the '300 Provisional Application”), is hereby made pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(e). The entire disclosure of the '300 Provisional Application is hereby incorporated herein.
TECHNICAL FIELDThis disclosure relates generally to apparatuses capable of retaining hats and caps on a user's (e.g., an individual, etc.), or a wearer's head. Such a hat and cap retainer may be capable of attaching to a band of a hat or a cap or to a user's hair to secure a hat or a cap in place on the user's head.
BACKGROUND OF RELATED ARTA wide variety of hat retainers exist for securing a hat to the head of a user. An example of such a retainer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,079, in which a band of a hat is removably attached to a headband worn by a user by means of matching hook and loop materials. Another example of a retainer is disclosed by U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2006/0272074 A1, in which a chin strap is secured to opposite sides of a hat by securing and locking members. Another similar device is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 7,020,900, in which an elasticized band is attached to the periphery of a crown of a hat to retain the hat on a user's head. Other devices employ a leash, tether, or lanyard to secure a hat that may have fallen off a user's head, such as those disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 6,446,265, U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2017/0035140 A1, and U.S. Patent Application Publication US 2014/0301888 A1.
Unfortunately, many of these devices are complicated or difficult to use or remove, or only secure a hat to a user after the hat has fallen off the user's head.
SUMMARYA retainer according to this disclosure may removably or permanently attach to headwear (e.g., a hat, a cap, a bonnet, a boater hat, a fedora, a panama hat, a sunhat, etc.) or to head gear (e.g., a helmet, etc.) to enable the headwear or headgear to be readily secured in place on a user's head. As used herein, the term “headwear” refers to various types of hats, caps, and other headwear, as well as to various types of helmets. While the terms “hat” and “cap” may be used herein to refer to specific types of headwear, for the sake of simplicity, these terms, as used herein, may generally to any of a variety of different types of headwear.
A retainer according to this disclosure may include at least one flexible elongated member, which is referred to herein as a “strap,” (e.g., a cord, a lace, a string, a lanyard, a strap, etc.) that may be attached to a band (e.g., a hatband, a sweatband, etc.) of headwear or elsewhere on the headwear in order to secure the headwear to the user's head.
Opposite ends of the strap may be secured in place relative to opposite sides of the headwear or relative to opposite sides of the user's head. The one or more keepers may be capable of insertion behind a band of the headwear, between the band and an inner surface of an exterior portion of the headwear. In a specific embodiment, opposite ends of the strap may be secured to one or more keepers. Each keeper may be flat and curved or flexible to enable the keeper to conform to a shape of a band of headwear with which the keeper is to be used and/or to enable the keeper to conform to a shape of the user's head.
A remainder of the strap may partially define a loop, which may be worn in a variety of positions, such as under the user's chin, behind the user's head, or otherwise in relation to the head of the user. An effective size of the loop may be adjustable; for example, it may be tightened or loosened. An adjustment device, which is referred to herein as a “slider” and as a “fastener,” may hold a pair of locations of the strap adjacent to one another. The slider may be held in place mechanically (e.g., by features of the slider that engage, or grip, the strap, etc.), by friction, etc., but may also be capable of sliding along lengths of portions of the strap to enable adjustment of a size of the loop and, thus, tightening of the loop around the user's head or loosening of the loop from the user's head.
A method for using a retainer according to this disclosure may include securing each end of a strap of the retainer to a keeper. The end of the strap may be introduced through at least one hole through the keeper and then anchored in place (e.g. the strap may be knotted, a clamp or anchor may be secured to the strap adjacent to its end, etc.). Each keeper may be introduced between a band on an inside of an item of headwear and the exterior portion of the headwear to position the ends of the strap on opposite sides of the headwear. The keeper(s) may optionally be secured to the band. As With the retainer in place, the headwear may be placed on a user's, or wearer's head. Optionally, the keeper(s) may be secured to the user's head (e.g., to his or her hair, etc.). While placing the headwear on the user's head, the strap of the retainer also be positioned at a desired location (e.g., under the user's chin, at the back of the user's head, etc.), and a slider on the strap of the retainer may be adjusted to tighten a loop defined partially by the strap to thereby secure the headwear to the user's head.
Other aspects of the disclosed subject matter, as well as features and advantages of various aspects of the disclosed subject matter, should be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art through consideration of the ensuing description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
In the drawings:
A retainer according to this disclosure is capable of attaching to an item of headwear, such as a hat or a cap and of securing the headwear to a user's, or wearer's, head. The retainer may include a strap, one or more keepers, and a slider. The one or more keepers are capable of securing the retainer to the headwear, and optionally to the user's head. The strap defines a portion of a loop that enables the headwear to be secured in place on the user's head. The slider enables tightening and loosening of the strap; thus, the slider enables the retainer to secure the headwear to the user's head, as well as removal of the retainer and the headwear from the user's head.
In one embodiment, the keepers are connected to opposite ends of one or more straps that are extend to a common slider, or fastener. The slider may be arranged relative to the strap in a manner that enables a loop defined partially by the strap to be secured to the chin or another part the head of a user (e.g., an individual) wearing the headwear (i.e., a wearer of the headwear). By cinching up the slider along the strap to reduce the size of the loop defined partially by the strap and to apply tension to the strap, the headwear may be secured to the head of the user.
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Although the preceding disclosure refers to the embodiment of retainer 10 shown in
Referring now to
Although dimensions of the keeper 90 are not requirements of the described embodiments, in one embodiment, the keeper 90 may be about two inches high by about five inches wide. The main holes 91, 92, and 93 may be about 11/64 inch in diameter, and the smaller holes 94, 95, 96, and 97 may be about 3/32 inch in diameter. The main hole 91 may be positioned about ⅜ inch below the top of the keeper 90, and the main holes 92 and 93 may be positioned about ¼ inch below the top of the keeper 90.
The main hole 91 may be similar to the holes 16 and 18 of the embodiment of keeper 12, 14 shown in
In
As shown in more detail in
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It should be understood that all of the elements of the various embodiments of retainers described herein can removably or permanently connect a keeper of a retainer to a band of an item of headwear, such as a hat or a cap or to other portions of a hat or cap that can accommodate the keeper(s).
Although the foregoing description provides many specifics, these specifics should not be construed as limiting the scopes of any of the appended claims, but merely as providing information pertinent to some specific embodiments that may fall within the scopes of the appended claims. Features from different embodiments may be employed in combination. Other embodiments may also lie within the scopes of the appended claims. All additions to, deletions from, and modifications of the disclosed subject matter that fall within the scopes of the claims may be embraced by the claims.
Claims
1. A retainer for securing headwear to a head of a wearer, comprising:
- at least one keeper adapted to be secured to the headwear;
- a flexible elongated member connected to the at least one keeper to enable the headwear to be attached to the headwear, the flexible elongated member capable of being positioned around a portion of the head of the wearer while the headwear is positioned upon the head of the user; and
- an adjustment device connected to the flexible elongated member and capable of adjusting an effective length of the flexible elongated member and of tightening and/or loosening the flexible elongated member relative to the head of the wearer.
2. The retainer of claim 1, wherein the at least one keeper comprises a pair of keepers, each keeper of the pair of keepers adapted to be secured to the headwear.
3. The retainer of claim 2, wherein the flexible elongated member comprises a strap, a cord, a lace, a string, or a lanyard connected to each keeper of the pair of keepers.
4. The retainer of claim 1, wherein the at least one keeper comprises a single keeper, with portions of the at least one keeper that receive opposite ends of the flexible elongated member adapted to be positioned at opposite sides of the headwear.
5. The retainer of claim 1, wherein the flexible elongated member comprises two flexible elongated members, each flexible elongated member connected to a corresponding keeper of the pair of keepers.
6. The retainer of claim 1, wherein the flexible elongated member comprises a single flexible elongated member, with opposite ends of the single flexible elongated member being secured to the at least one keeper.
7. The retainer of claim 1, wherein the at least one keeper is adapted to attach to a band of the headwear.
8. The retainer of claim 7, wherein the at least one keeper is adapted to removably attach to the band of the headwear.
9. The retainer of claim 7, wherein the at least one keeper is adapted to attach to a sweatband of the headwear.
10. The retainer of claim 1, wherein the at least one keeper is adapted to attach to a hat or a cap.
11. The retainer of claim 1, wherein the adjustment device is adapted to slide along the flexible elongated member to increase or decrease an effective length of the flexible elongated member.
12. A retainer for securing a hat or a cap to a head of a user, comprising:
- two keepers adapted to be secured to a band of the hat or the cap;
- one or more straps capable of being connected between the two keepers and secured around a chin of the head of the user; and
- an adjustment device connected to the one or more straps and capable of tightening or loosening the one or more straps relative to the chin of the user.
13. The retainer of claim 12, wherein the two keepers are adapted to be secured to a band of the hat or the cap.
14. The retainer of claim 13, wherein the two keepers are adapted to be removably disposed behind the band on opposite sides of the band.
15. The retainer of claim 14, wherein at least one of the one or more straps extends from each keeper of the two keepers to the adjustment device.
16. The retainer of claim 15, wherein the adjustment device comprises a slider that secures different locations along the one or more straps together.
17. The retainer of claim 16, wherein the slider is adapted to tighten the two keepers around the chin of the user by moving the slider along the one or more straps toward the hat or the cap.
18. The retainer of claim 12, wherein the two keepers comprise clips capable of being removably secured to the band of the hat or the cap.
19. The retainer of claim 12, wherein the two keepers comprise pins capable of being removably pinned to the band of the hat or the cap.
20. A retainer for securing a hat or a cap to a head of a user, comprising:
- two removable keepers, each keeper of the two removable keepers adapted to be positioned behind a band on opposite sides of the hat or the cap;
- one or more straps connected between the two removable keepers and capable of being placed under a chin of the head of the user; and
- a slider connected to the one or more straps and capable of tightening and/or loosening the one or more straps around the chin of the user.
21. The retainer of claim 20, wherein ends of the one or more straps are connected to each keeper of the two removable keepers by a knot at an end of the one or more straps, behind at least one hole in each keeper.
22. The retainer of claim 20, wherein a pin secured to each keeper is capable of further securing each keeper to the band of the hat or the cap.
Type: Application
Filed: Dec 29, 2018
Publication Date: Jul 4, 2019
Inventor: Mark L. Layton (Orem, UT)
Application Number: 16/236,451