BLANKET HAVING A FOOT CAVITY

Abstract

The present disclosure provides for a blanket with an upper portion and a lower portion. The upper portion includes a first and second opening removably covered by a first and second flap, respectively. The lower portion includes a fold axis separating the lower portion into a first lower portion and a second lower portion. When the lower portion is folded at the fold axis, the first lower portion faces the second lower portion and the fold axis is the most distal end of the blanket from the upper portion. The lower portion further includes a mechanism for coupling the outer edges of the first lower portion to the outer edges of the second lower portion to create a foot cavity.

Description

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present disclosure relates generally to a blanket and, more particularly, to a blanket having armholes and that can be folded to form a cavity to receive feet and/or legs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Blankets are often used to keep a person warm. For example, while performing a seated activity, such as watching television, sitting on a couch, or playing a game, a participant in the activity may desire to maintain and/or achieve increased comfortability and/or warmth. A blanket may be used to maintain and/or achieve increased comfortability and/or warmth of the person using the blanket.

Conventional blankets, however, may not provide adequate coverage of the person using the blanket, may slip off of the person over time such as when the person moves, or may be difficult to quickly remove. For example, some existing modified blankets may be worn on a person's legs and feet in order to provide additional warmth, but such blankets cannot be simply placed to the side when a person needs to quickly remove the blanket. Conventional blankets may also not be proportioned to cover arms, feet, and/or the torso of the person at the same time, and/or may generally not stay in a desired position on the person.

Additionally, conventional blankets may only cover the top of a person using them and may not prevent a cold air draft from reaching the person underneath the blanket. People may wrap or tuck the ends of a conventional blanket around themselves and sit on the ends to prevent the cold air draft from reaching them, but such blanket ends may slip out from under a person over time causing the person to repeatedly have to adjust or re-tuck the blanket. Further, conventional blankets are not adaptable such that a person can have the blanket in a first configuration to prevent cold air draft from the floor when desired and a second configuration when a cold air draft is not present, less warmth is desired, etc.

Accordingly, such conventional blankets may not provide a person with optimal warmth and comfort nor optimal mobility, and further may require continual readjustment by the person.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides for a blanket with an adaptable foot cavity. When in use, the foot cavity may help prevent cold air drafts from underneath the blanket from reaching a person using the blanket. The blanket also includes flaps that may removably cover armholes in the blanket. People may easily remove feet and legs from the disclosed foot cavity and arms and hands through the armholes, and thus the disclosed blanket enables a person to quickly remove the blanket when needed.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a blanket includes an outer perimeter with right, left, top and bottom edges. The right and left edges are opposite each other and the top and bottom edges are opposite each other. The blanket also includes an upper portion proximate the top edge and a lower portion proximate the bottom edge. The upper portion includes a first opening and a second opening. The first opening and the second opening are sized to each receive a human arm, and are distributed along an axis substantially perpendicular to the right and left edges. The upper portion also includes a first flap and a second flap that cover the first opening and the second opening, respectively. The lower portion includes a fold axis separating the lower portion into a first lower portion and a second lower portion such that when the lower portion is folded at the fold axis, the first lower portion faces towards the second lower portion and the fold axis is the most distal end of the blanket from the upper portion. The first lower portion has at least one first attachment part at each of the left and right edges of the first lower portion and the second lower portion has at least one second attachment part at each of the left and right edges of the second lower portion. Each first attachment part corresponds to a second attachment part, and the first attachment part and the second attachment part are configured to couple the left edges and the right edges of the first and second lower portions to create a foot cavity.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a blanket includes an upper portion and a lower portion. The upper portion includes a first opening removably covered by a first flap and a second opening removably covered by a second flap. The first opening and the second opening are distributed substantially horizontally on the upper portion along a first plane that is substantially perpendicular to a second plane that bisects both the upper portion and the lower portion. The lower portion includes a fold axis separating the lower portion into a first lower portion and a second lower portion such that when the lower portion is folded at the fold axis, the first lower portion faces the second lower portion and the fold axis is the most distal end of the blanket from the upper portion. The lower portion includes a mechanism for coupling the outer edges of the first lower portion to the outer edges of the second lower portion to create a foot cavity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates a person using an embodiment of a blanket with the adaptable foot cavity in use, according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates a front view of an embodiment of a blanket with a lower portion including snap fastener components, according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a rear view of an embodiment of a blanket with a lower portion including snap fastener components, according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates a front view of an embodiment of a blanket with a lower portion including a zipper, according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a zipper attachment part, according to the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a front view of an embodiment of a blanket with a lower portion including stitching, according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure provides for a blanket with an adaptable foot cavity. When in use, the foot cavity may help prevent cold air drafts from underneath the blanket from reaching a person using the blanket. The presently disclosed blanket also includes armholes that provide people with mobility for their arms and hands while using the blanket. For situations in which people desire their arms and hands to be underneath the blanket, however, the presently disclosed blanket may also include flaps that cover the armholes and help prevent air from reaching the person through the armholes. People may easily remove feet and legs from the disclosed foot cavity and arms and hands through the armholes, and thus the disclosed blanket enables a person to quickly remove the blanket when needed. For example, the foot cavity surrounds both of a person's legs/feet and is large enough that it does not hug, grip, etc. a person's feet or legs so a person may quickly remove the person's feet and legs with minimal preventative friction. Accordingly, the presently disclosed blanket may provide a person with optimal warmth, comfort, and mobility.

FIG. 1 illustrates a person 102 (e.g., a user) using an example blanket 100 of the present disclosure while seated in a chair. The person 102 has her arms through the two openings (e.g., armholes) in the blanket 100, and thus her hands are free for performing various tasks while the blanket 100 still covers the rest of her body. For example, the person 102 may hold a cup in one hand and a television remote in the other hand as illustrated. The example blanket 100 also has flaps 104 that cover the openings when the person 102 does not have her arms through the openings. In some examples, the blanket 100 may also include a pocket 106 as illustrated for carrying various items, placing hands inside, etc.

The person 102 is illustrated in FIG. 1 as having her feet and legs inside an example foot cavity 108 of the example blanket 100. The example foot cavity 108 is created using snap fasteners 110 in the illustration; however, the foot cavity 108 may be created using other components as will be described below. The example blanket 100 is sized such that, as illustrated, a person 102 can have arms through the openings and feet in the foot cavity 108. In other examples, the foot cavity 108 may extend further up the blanket 100 towards the tops of the legs of the person 102, and thus may cover more of the legs of the person 102. In other examples, the foot cavity 108 may extend less up the blanket 100 towards the feet of the person 102 and may cover less of the legs of the person 102. In other examples, the person 102 may use the blanket 100 without creating the foot cavity 108, as will be described more below.

The foot cavity 108 of the example blanket 100 helps prevent, in a convenient and comfortable manner, cold air drafts (e.g., floor drafts) from reaching the person 102 using the blanket 100. For instance, some conventional blankets only sit on top of a person 102, thus leaving a path for cold air drafts to reach a person 102 from the floor (i.e., the blanket does not cover the bottom of the person 102). A person 102 may tuck the sides of such a conventional blanket underneath the person 102 and sit on the sides to insulate the person 102 from the cold air drafts. However, when the person 102 moves, the blanket inevitably becomes untucked and must be tucked again. The foot cavity 108 of the blanket 100, on the other hand, covers the bottom of the person 102 to help prevent cold air drafts from reaching the person from the floor. Further, the foot cavity 108 is a part of the blanket 100 and thus when a person 102 moves, and therefore moves the blanket 100, the foot cavity 108 moves with the blanket and continues to help prevent cold air drafts from reaching the person. The person 102 does not have to re-tuck or otherwise adjust the blanket 100 as the person 102 would have to with conventional blankets.

The example blanket 100 may be made from a sheet of fabric or other suitable material that provides a person warmth and comfort. For example, the blanket 100 may be made from quilted fabric, flannel, polyester, knit, felt, poplin, corduroy, muslin wool, cotton, terrycloth, velvet, fleece, denim, or other like materials.

FIG. 2 illustrates a front view of the example blanket 100 of the present disclosure. The example blanket 100 is illustrated as rectangular, but may be other suitable shapes in other examples. For example, the blanket 100 may be provided with rounded corners, may be oval, or may be any suitable shape with the features as described in the present disclosure. An upper portion of the example blanket 100 includes two flaps 104 on the front face 202 of the blanket 100 that each cover an opening 304 (FIG. 3) in the blanket 100. In other examples, the two flaps 104 may be on the rear face 302 (FIG. 3) of the blanket 100 such that they cover each opening 304. As discussed above, a person may place hands and arms through the respective openings 304. Each of the flaps 104 includes a portion that is fixedly attached to the front face 202. For example, one end of each flap 104 may be stitched/sewn to the front face 202. In other examples, the end of each flap 104 may be attached to the front face 202 using other suitable attachment mechanisms. In other examples, each flap 104 may be an extension of the material of the blanket 100 (e.g., the flaps are integrally formed as part of the main body of the blanket, rather than being attached with another component). Accordingly, each flap 104 therefore covers the openings 304 when arms are not through the openings, but can be displaced by arms through the openings 304 while still being attached to the blanket 100.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, each of the flaps 104 is only fixedly attached to the front face 202, or integrally formed as part of the blanket main body, as described above. As such, the remaining portion of each of the flaps 104 not fixedly attached to the front face 202 or integrally formed with the blanket is completely free. In such aspects, however, if a person does not want his or her arms through the openings, the flaps 104 may not fully cover the openings because nothing is holding the free portion of the flaps 104 over the openings. Cold air may therefore reach a person through the openings of the blanket 100.

Accordingly, in some aspects of the present disclosure, each of the flaps 104 may include a mechanism for removably coupling (e.g., attaching) the second, free portion of each flap 104 to the front face 202 of the blanket 100. When the second portion of each flap 104 is coupled to the front face 202, each flap 104 more fully and consistently covers each respective opening 304 in the blanket 100, and thus the cold air reaching the person through the openings 304 is minimized. A person may then release each flap 104 from the front face 202 when the person desires to place the person's arms through the openings 304.

In some examples, the second portion of each flap 104 may be removably coupled to the front face 202 using snap fasteners 210. In such examples, each flap 104 will include one or more snap fastener components (e.g., either male or female snap fastener components, or a combination of both) that correspond to the same number of snap fastener components on the front face 202. The snap fastener components on the flaps 104 may be snapped together with the snap fastener components on the front face 202 to attach the second portion of each flap 104 to the front face 202. The snap fastener components on the flaps 104 may then be unsnapped from the snap fastener components on the front face 202 to uncouple the second portion of each flap 104 from the front face 202.

In other examples, the second portion of each flap 104 may be removably coupled to the front face 202 using a zipper. In such examples, each flap 104 will have one component of the zipper (e.g., the side with only teeth or the side with teeth and the pull tab) and the front face 202 will correspondingly have the other component. The zipper may then be engaged to couple the second portion of each flap 104 to the front face 202 and disengaged to release the second portion from the front face 202. In other examples, the second portion of each flap 104 may be removably coupled to the front face 202 using a hook-and-loop fastener, e.g. Velcro® brand hook-and-loop fastener tape from Velcro Companies. In such examples, each flap 104 will have one side of the hook-and-loop fastener (e.g., the rough hook side or the softer loop side) and the front face 202 will correspondingly have the other side. The two sides may then be placed together to couple the second portion of each flap 104 to the front face 202 and pulled apart to release the second portion from the front face 202.

In other examples, each flap 104 may be removably coupled to the front face 202 using other suitable mechanisms that similarly provide a mechanism to quickly couple and release each flap 104 to and from the front face 202. For instance, a suitable mechanism may be buttons and buttonholes (e.g., an opening in the blanket material), two extensions of blanket material that may be tied together through and around an opening, or a knot of material placed through an opening.

In some examples, the blanket 100 may include a pocket 106 for holding various items so a person may have quick access to them while using the blanket 100. A person may also place hands inside the pocket 106 for extra warmth when the person's arms are through the openings 304 in the blanket 100. In other examples, the pocket 106 may take suitable shapes other than what is illustrated.

The example blanket 100 also includes a lower portion that can be separated by a fold axis 208 into a first lower portion 204 and a second lower portion 206. The lower portion may be folded at the fold axis 208 to form the foot cavity 108 such that the second lower portion 206 faces the first lower portion 204. For example, the rear face of the second lower portion 206 may face towards the rear face of the first lower portion 204 as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. The lower portion of the blanket 100 also includes attachment parts to couple (e.g., fixedly attach or removably attach) the first lower portion 204 and the second lower portion 206 at their respective side edges to create the foot cavity 108. As used throughout this disclosure, “near the edges” of the blanket 100 means at the end of the blanket 100 material or near the end the end of the material (e.g., within two inches of the end of the material).

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate the example blanket 100 having a lower portion with multiple snap fasteners as attachment parts. For instance, the first lower portion 204 may have multiple male snap fastener components 306 and the second lower portion 206 may have multiple female snap fastener components 308 at their respective side edges. In other instances, the first lower portion 204 may have female snap fastener components 308 and the second lower portion 206 may have male snap fastener components 306. In other instances, the first lower portion 204 and second lower portion 206 may each have both male and female snap fastener components 306 and 308, such that each male snap fastener component 306 on one portion corresponds to a female snap fastener component 308 on the other portion.

In any of the described instances above, the male and female snap fastener components 306 and 308 may be snapped together to couple the side edges of the first lower portion 204 to the side edges of the second lower portion 206. Accordingly, because the bottom edge of the second lower portion 206 is not coupled to the first lower portion's 204 rear face 302, a foot cavity 108 is created such that feet and legs can be placed within the foot cavity 108 (i.e. between the first lower portion 204 and the second lower portion 206). The male and female snap fastener components 306 and 308 may also be unsnapped to uncouple the side edges of the first lower portion 204 and the side edges of the second lower portion 206. As discussed above, a person may also use the blanket 100 without creating the foot cavity 108 and thus does not need to snap the snap fasteners together to use the blanket 100.

In some examples, by using snap fasteners, the size of the foot cavity 108 may be customized by not snapping every male snap fastener component 306 with every female snap fastener component 306. For instance, the bottom-most snap fasteners on the blanket 100 may be snapped to the snap fasteners third from the top (e.g., the snap fastener indicated as 306 in FIG. 3) rather than the top-most snap fasteners. In another instance, the snap fasteners fourth from the bottom (e.g., the snap fastener indicated as 308 in FIG. 3) may be snapped to the top-most snap fasteners.

FIG. 4 illustrates a front view of an example blanket 400 of the present disclosure. The example blanket 400 is the same as the example blanket 100 except that the example blanket 400 has a lower portion with zipper components as attachment parts. Accordingly, each of the edges of the first lower portion 204 of the example blanket 400 has a first zipper component 502 (FIG. 5) or a second zipper component 504 (FIG. 5) and each of the edges of the second lower portion 206 of the example blanket 400 has the other of the first zipper component 502 or the second zipper component 504. As described above, first zipper component 502 may be the side with only teeth and the second zipper component 504 may be the side with teeth and the pull tab, or vice versa.

In other aspects of the present disclosure, the example blankets 100 and 400 may additionally or alternatively have a lower portion with hook-and-loop fastener components as attachment parts, as described above in connection with the flaps 104. In such aspects, each of the edges of the first lower portion 204 may have a first or second component of the hook-and-loop fastener and each of the edges of the second lower portion 206 may have the other of the first or second hook-and-loop fastener component. The two hook-and-loop fastener components may then be placed together to couple the first lower portion 204 to the second lower portion 206 and pulled apart to release the first lower portion 204 and the second lower portion 206. Similar to the example blanket 400 with snap fasteners, the size of the foot cavity 108 of an example blanket 100 or 400 with hook-and-loop fastener components may be customized by placing the hook-and-loop components together at different positions, rather than exactly matching. In other examples, the first lower portion 204 and the second lower portion 206 may be removably coupled using other suitable mechanisms that similarly provide a mechanism to create and release a foot cavity 108 as described. For instance, a suitable mechanism may be any of the suitable mechanisms described above in connection with removably coupling the flaps 104.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the edges of the first lower portion 204 may be fixedly attached (e.g., fixedly coupled) to the edges of the second lower portion 206 such that the foot cavity 108 cannot be quickly released and recoupled as described in other aspects above. FIG. 6 illustrates an example blanket 600 in which the first lower portion 204 is fixedly attached to the second lower portion 206 (not illustrated) with stitching 602. In other examples, the edges of the first lower portion 204 may be fixedly attached to the edges of the second lower portion 206 using other suitable mechanisms. In other examples, the first lower portion 204, the second lower portion 206, and the upper portion of the blanket 600 may all be an extension of a single piece of material (i.e. the first lower portion 204 does not need to be attached to the second lower portion 206).

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to the examples described here will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is therefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appended claims. Moreover, unless specifically stated any use of the terms first, second, etc. do not denote any order or importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are merely used to distinguish one element from another.

Claims

1: A blanket, comprising:

an outer perimeter further comprising right, left, top and bottom edges, the right and left edges opposite each other and the top and bottom edges opposite each other;

an upper portion proximate the top edge; and

a lower portion proximate the bottom edge,

wherein the upper portion further comprises a first opening and a second opening, the first opening and the second opening being sized to each receive a human arm and wherein the first opening and the second opening are distributed along an axis substantially perpendicular to the right and left edges, and a first flap and a second flap, wherein the first and second flaps cover the first opening and the second opening, respectively,

wherein the lower portion further comprises a fold axis separating the lower portion into a first lower portion and a second lower portion such that when the lower portion is folded at the fold axis, the first lower portion faces towards the second lower portion and the fold axis is the most distal end of the blanket from the upper portion, and

wherein the first lower portion has at least one left first attachment part near the left edge of the first lower portion and at least one right first attachment part near the right edge of the first lower portion,

wherein the second lower portion has at least one left second attachment part near the left edge of the second lower portion and at least one right second attachment part near the right edge of the second lower portion, and

wherein the at least one left first attachment part and the at least one left second attachment part are configured to mechanically couple, and the at least one right first attachment part and the at least one right second attachment part are configured to mechanically couple, forming a foot cavity.

2: The blanket according to claim 1, wherein the upper portion further comprises a pocket.

3: The blanket according to claim 1, the coupling of the first left attachment part and the second left attachment part removably coupling the left edge of the second lower portion to the left edge of the first lower portion, and the coupling of the first right attachment part and the second right attachment part removably coupling the right edge of the second lower portion to the right edge of the first lower portion.

4: The blanket according to claim 3, wherein each first attachment part is a male snap fastener component or a female snap fastener component, and wherein each corresponding second attachment part is the other of the male snap fastener component or female snap fastener component.

5: The blanket according to claim 3, wherein each first attachment part is one component of a zipper and each corresponding second attachment part is the other component of the zipper.

6: The blanket according to claim 3, wherein each first attachment part is one side of a hook-and-loop fastener and each corresponding second attachment part is the other side of the hook-and-loop fastener.

7: The blanket according to claim 3, wherein each first attachment part and each second attachment part is selected from the group consisting of a male snap fastener component, a female snap fastener component, a zipper component, a hook-and-loop fastener component, a button, an opening, multiple fabric ties, or a fabric knot.

8: The blanket according to claim 1, wherein the first and second attachment parts are stitching.

9: The blanket according to claim 1, wherein the first lower portion is coupled to the second lower portion on a first side of the blanket, and wherein the first flap and the second flap are positioned on a second side of the blanket opposite the first side.

10: The blanket according to claim 1, wherein the first flap and the second flap are each one of fixedly attached to the upper portion or integrally formed with the upper portion.

11: The blanket according to claim 10,

wherein the first flap and the second flap are each fixedly attached or integrally formed to the blanket at a first portion,

wherein a second portion of each the first and second flap includes at least one third attachment part,

wherein the blanket includes at least one fourth attachment part for each the first and second flap,

wherein each third attachment part corresponds to a fourth attachment part, and

wherein the third and fourth attachment parts are configured to removably couple the second portion of each of the first and second flaps to the blanket.

12: The blanket according to claim 11, wherein each third attachment part is one of a male snap fastener component or a female snap fastener component, and wherein each corresponding fourth attachment part is the other of the male snap fastener component or female snap fastener component.

13: The blanket according to claim 11, wherein each third attachment part is one component of a zipper and each corresponding fourth attachment part is the other component of the zipper.

14: The blanket according to claim 11, wherein each third attachment part and each fourth attachment part is selected from the group consisting of a male snap fastener component, a female snap fastener component, a zipper component, a hook-and-loop fastener component, a button, an opening, multiple fabric ties, or a fabric knot.

15: The blanket according to claim 1, wherein the blanket comprises a sheet of fabric, the fabric selected from a group consisting of quilted fabric, flannel, polyester, knit, felt, poplin, corduroy, muslin wool, cotton, terrycloth, velvet, fleece, and denim.

16: The blanket according to claim 1, wherein the upper portion and the lower portion are sized to allow a user to insert a first arm of the user in the first opening and a second in the second opening, when feet of the user are positioned in the foot cavity.

17: A blanket comprising:

an upper portion; and

a lower portion,

wherein the upper portion comprises a first opening removably covered by a first flap and a second opening removably covered by a second flap, the first opening and the second opening are distributed substantially horizontally on the upper portion along a first plane that is substantially perpendicular to a second plane that bisects both the upper portion and the lower portion,

wherein the lower portion comprises a fold axis separating the lower portion into a first lower portion and a second lower portion such that when the lower portion is folded at the fold axis, the first lower portion faces the second lower portion and the fold axis is the most distal end of the blanket from the upper portion, and

wherein the lower portion further comprises a means for coupling the outer edges of the first lower portion to the outer edges of the second lower portion to create a foot cavity.

18: The blanket according to claim 17, wherein the means removably couples the outer edges of the first lower portion to the outer edges of the second lower portion.

19: The blanket according to claim 17, wherein the first and second flaps each include a first portion and a second portion, wherein the first portion of each the first and second flap is fixedly attached to the upper portion, and wherein the upper portion further comprises a means for removably coupling the second portion of each the first and second flap to the upper portion.

20: The blanket according to claim 17, wherein the upper portion and the lower portion are sized to allow a user to insert a first arm of the user in the first opening and a second in the second opening, when feet of the user are positioned in the foot cavity.