GB2304538A

GB2304538A - Headgear with visor movable from a position in front of the face to within the headgear.

Info

Publication number: GB2304538A
Application number: GB9616624A
Authority: GB
Inventors: John Steven Rovira
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1995-08-08
Filing date: 1996-08-08
Publication date: 1997-03-26
Also published as: GB9516265D0; GB9616624D0

Abstract

The visor, 14 is of a flexible material that may be coloured and may be removably attachable to the cap 10 by a fabric hinge 20 to the headband so that it is foldable between first position, in front of the face, and a second position, within the head space of the cap. A material layer, in the form of a flap fixed to the interior of the cap lies between the head of a wearer and the visor when the visor is within the cap to prevent soiling of the visor. In an alternative embodiment there are guide rails within the headgear so that the visor can be slid between the first and second positions. The headgear may also be of hard material and the visor attached by clips or press studs.

Description

HEADGEAR DESCRIPTION The invention relates to headgear, more particularly headgear incorporating a visor.

Apart from being a fashion accessory, headgear is often worn to provide protection for the head of the wearer. For example, a sun hat provides protection from the heat of the sun; a hard hat is worn in places where there is a risk from falling objects; woolly hats are worn in cold conditions to prevent heat loss from the head.

It is often desirable and/or necessary when wearing such protective headgear to also provide separate protection for the face of the wearer, particularly the eyes. Thus, a person wearing a sun hat will often wear sunglasses. A person wearing a hard hat may need to wear safety glasses. Woolly hats are often worn when skiing when snow goggles may also be desirable.

It is an object of the invention to provide headgear incorporating a visor which removes the need for the wearer to provide separate face protection.

Accordingly, the invention provides headgear incorporating a visor movable between a first position depending from the headgear and operatively in front of the face of a wearer to a second position within the headgear.

Advantageously, the visor is of a flexible material, for example a plastics material; in order that the visor, when within the headgear, will readily conform to the head of the wearer.

The visor may be coloured.

A material layer may be provided within the headgear to lie between the head of a wearer and the visor when the visor is in said second position. This will act to prevent the visor contacting the wearers head and, possibly, becoming soiled.

The layer of material may comprise a flap fixed to the interior of the headgear, or alternatively comprise a cover or pocket formed within the fabric of the headgear.

The visor may be carried on the headgear by pivot or hinge means rotatable or foldable to carry the visor between said first and second positions.

Advantageously, the connection of the visor to the headgear comprises fabric hinge pieces attached to each.

In one embodiment the upper edge of the visor, when the visor is in the first position, has at the ends thereof upstanding portions to which the fabric pieces are attached.

The visor may be removably attachable to the headgear, for example each fabric hinge piece may be in two parts interconnectable by cooperating means.

The visor may be attached to the headgear by fabric pieces stitched into the headband of the headgear and adhesively attached to the upstanding portions of the visor.

The visor may be made of a variety of different materials, in different colours and in different shapes depending on the protection it is to afford to a wearer.

The headgear may take a variety of different forms. It may be made of fabric or a hard material such as a metal or plastics material. It may or may not have a brim or peak.

The above and other features and advantages of the invention will now be illustrated, by way of description of embodiments of the invention, made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows at A and B respectively headgear embodying the invention worn with the visor in first and second positions, Figure 2 shows at A and B respectively enlarged scrap sectional side views of one form of the headgear of Figure 1, and Figure 3 shows at A, B and C respectively a detail and scrap sectional side views of another form of the headgear of Figure 1.

Figure 1 shows headgear embodying the invention in the form of a soft cap 10, sometimes known as a baseball cap, with a peak 12. A visor 14 is incorporated in the cap.

Visor 14 is of a flexible plastics material such as polyvinylchloride (PVC) and is coloured and shaped so as to act as a sun screen.

It will be appreciated that any other suitable plastics material may be used to form the visor, e.g.

polycarbonate, polyacetates. The visor may be made of a polarising material.

Visor 14 is attached at two points to the front inside of cap 10 at the soft inner rim 16 at the base of the stiffened face 18 of cap 10.

Attachment of visor 14 to the cap is effected in one embodiment (shown in Figure 2) by means of two fabric hinges 20 and two sets of co-operating Velcro patches 22A, 22B. Each hinge 20 is sewn at its upper end to the front inner rim 16 of cap 10 and one of the co-operating Velcro patches 22A is attached by an adhesive to the lowermost tIr (Figure 2A) free part of the hinge 20. The other Velcro patch 22B is attached by an adhesive to visor 14. The Velcro patches 22B are located adjacent the ends of the upper (Figure 2A) edge of visor 14.

Figure 2B shows the cap 10 of with the visor 14 in the second position. The fabric hinges 20 are folded upon themselves so that visor 14 lies generally parallel to stiffened face 18 of cap 10. Visor 14 is covered, within cap 10, by a flap of material 26 which acts to prevent visor 14 from bearing directly against a wearer's head, and so, possibly, becoming soiled. Flap 26 is attached by stitching to the upper edge of the inner surface of the stiffened face 18 of the cap.

When visor 14 is in its second position (Figures 1B, 2B), because of its flexibility, it conforms to the wearer's head without causing discomfort.

It will be appreciated that visor 14 is detachably mounted on cap 10, allowing visors of different materials, shapes and colours to be attached to the cap depending upon the protection required by the wearer.

Figure 3 illustrates a second arrangement embodying the invention parts of which similar to those already described are given the same reference numerals.

The principle difference between this arrangement and that described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 is that the visor 30 is of a distinctive shape (see Figure 3A) in that its upper edge (when it is in the first or operative position) is provided with a pair of upstanding portions 32 at its ends and to which are adhesively attached the ends of strips of flexible fabric, leather, or leatherette or plastics material hinges 34.

The free ends of the hinges 34 are fixed into the cap 10 - in particular they are passed into openings in the headband 36 of the cap 10 and then stitched in position.

Also stitched into the headband 36 of cap 10 is one leaf 38 of a fabric cover 40. Leaf 38 runs upwardly adjacent the rear of the stiffened face 18 of cap 10 and is joined along its upper edge by stitching 42 to a second leaf 44 of the cover. Leaf 44 runs downwardly adjacent the first leaf 38.

When the visor 30 is in its second position (see Figure 3C) it is received between the leaves 38 and 44 of cover 40 - the hinges 34 being folded around the headband 36 of the cap 10 so that the visor 30 can pass into the cover 40. If a user wishes to move the visor 30 to its first position (see Figure 3B) he simply removes the cap, inserts his fingers into the cover 40 and unfolds the hinges 34 such that the visor 30 depends from the cap when next placed on his head.

The two fabric leaves 38 and 44 then lie comfortably between the wearers upper forehead and the rear of the stiffened face 18 of the cap 10.

It will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and that many variations are possible. For example the headgear may be made of a resilient material such as metal or a hard plastics.

Again the visor may be attached to the headgear in a variety of ways such as with clips, press studs or by being pivoted on the headgear.

As an alternative to this guide rails may be provided on an inner surface of the headgear so that the visor may be slid between first and second positions.

The visor may be sized to protect the whole face instead of just the eyes of a wearer.

The visor may be made of a variety of different materials and in different colours and shapes depending on the protection it is to afford to the user. Instead of a flap of material, a pocket may be provided within the headgear to house the detached visor.

Thus the present invention provides headgear incorporating a visor which is simple and economical but effective.

Claims

1. Headgear incorporating a visor movable between a first position depending from the headgear and operatively in front of the face of a wearer to a second position within the headgear.

2. Headgear as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the visor is of a flexible material.

3. Headgear as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the visor is of plastics material.

4. Headgear as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the visor is coloured.

5. Headgear as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a material layer is provided within the headgear to lie between the head of a wearer and the visor when the visor is in said second position.

6. Headgear as claimed in Claim 5, wherein the said layer of material comprises a flap fixed to the interior of the headgear.

7. Headgear as claimed in Claim 5, wherein said layer comprises a cover formed within the fabric of the headgear.

8. Headgear as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the visor is carried on the headgear by pivot or hinge means rotatable or foldable to carry the visor between said first and second positions.

9. Headgear as claimed in Claim 8, wherein the connection of the visor to the headgear comprises fabric hinge pieces attached to each.

10. Headgear as claimed in Claim 9, wherein the upper edge of said visor, when said visor is in said first position, has at both ends thereof upstanding portions to which said fabric pieces are attached.

11. Headgear as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the visor is removably attachable to the headgear.

12. Headgear as claimed in Claim 9 and Claim 11, wherein each said fabric piece is in two parts interconnectable by cooperating means.

13. Headgear as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12, when the visor is attached to the headgear by fabric pieces stitched into the headband of the headgear and adhesively attached to the upstanding portions of the visor.

14. Headgear as claimed in Claim 1 and substantially as described herein with reference to Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

15. Headgear as claimed in claim 1 and substantially described herein with reference to Figures 1 and 3 of the accompanying drawings.