GB2323518A - An improved necktie - Google Patents

Abstract

A necktie 10 is provided, on the rear of its tail end, with means 22, 24 to attach it to a button upon the front of the wearers shirt. The button attaching means may be button holes 24 provided in a button hole strip 22 attached to the rear face of the tail end, button holes provided in the material of the rear face of the tail end or loops attached to the rear face of the tail end. The tail end may be passed through a retaining label 20 before being attached to the button.

Description

The present invention relates to neckties for tying, in a decorative knot, about the collar of a shirt.

The necktie has, for more than a century, been a standard item of male, and increasingly female, attire, It is tied, in a decorative knot, about the collar of a shirt to conceal the buttons on the front of the shirt, the decorative knot being presented at the front of the collar, One face of the necktie is designed, at a first end of the necktie, for visibility, below the knot, lying along the line of buttons on the front of the shirt, while the other face is designed to be concealed. The second end of the necktie, when tied, is designed to be concealed behind the first end. Neckties are provided with an attachment, usually in the form of a slip-though tab, on the second face of the first end, for receiving the second end and maintaining the first and second ends aligned and in contact with one another.

Being thus tied, the necktie presents a problem in that the portion, extending from the knot, can be displaced from alignment with the row of buttons on the front of the shirt. To overcome this problem, various accoutrements have been devised. Tie-clips are designed, using sprung jaws, to clasp the first end of the tie, when tied, against one side of the opening in the front of the shirt so that the tied necktie and the shirt front remain in a constant positional relationship. The tie clip is a costly, decorative item and can slip out and become lost. It is also known to use a tie tack where a decorative, broad-headed stud is passed through the fabric of the first, and perhaps second, end of the necktie, when tied, and through the fabric of the front of the shirt, for the stud pin to be held in a retainer on the inner surface of the front of the shirt. The fabric penetration required in the use thereof can damage both shirt and necktie. Once again, the tie tack can be lost and is a costly item to replace. Tie pins, being a pin with a decorative end and a shaft which passes though the necktie and the front of the shirt, have similar disadvantages to those of the tie tack.

The present invention seeks to provide a necktie which, when tied, can be maintained in alignment with the buttons on the front of a shirt without use of accoutrements.

In military service, it is known to tuck the first end of the tied tie into an opening, in the front of the shirt, between adjacent buttons. While this maintains alignment between the tied necktie and the front of the shirt, inevitably some of the buttons must remain unconcealed, thus partially defeating the purpose of the necktie.

The present invention seeks to provide a necktie which can be maintained, without accoutrements, if desired, adjacent to the front of a shirt and concealing all of the buttons thereon.

The present invention consists in a necktie for tying about the collar of a shirt, said necktie comprising a first face for presentation when said necktie is tied about the collar of a shirt and a second face to be concealed when said necktie is tied about the collar of a shirt, said necktie further comprising a first end adapted for4 the first face thereof to be visible when said necktie is tied around the collar of a shirt, and a second end, adapted to be concealed behind said first and held against the second surface of said second end when said necktie is tied around the collar of a shirt, said necktie being characterised by further comprising means, proximate to said second end, for attachment of said second end to a button on the shirt to hold said necktie, when tied about the collar of the shirt, against the front of the shirt.

In a first preferred embodiment, the invention provides a necktie wherein the attachment means comprises a buttonhole, preferably but not necessarily, one of a plurality of buttonholes, spaced along the length of said necktie, and preferably being comprised in a button strip, said buttonhole or buttonholes being through-penetrative of the button strip.

In a second preferred embodiment of the invention, the buttonhole or buttonholes are through-penetrative of the fabric of the necktie.

In a third preferred embodiment of the invention, the attachment means is provided in the form of a loop, or a plurality of spaced loops along the length of the necktie, adapted to engage a button The invention is further explained, by way of an example, by the following description, taken in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front and back view of a necktie according to a first variant of the embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is an illustration showing the disposition of the various elements of figure 1 when the necktie is tied.

Figure 3 illustrates how the tied necktie, of figure 3, engages the buttons of a shirtfront.

Figure 4 shows a second variant of the embodiment of the present invention.

and Figure 5 shows a third variant on the embodiment of the present invention.

Attention is first drawn to figure 1. A necktie 10 comprises a first face 12 and a second face 14. The necktie 10 also comprises a first end 16 and a second end 18. On the second face 14 of the necktie 10, proximate to the first end 16, there is provided a retaining label 20, well known in the art, attached to the second face 14 of the first end of the necktie 10 by two lines of stitches on either side of the label 20, the sewn label being adapted to allow admission of the second end 18 of the necktie 10 to pass, in the direction between the first end 16 and the second end 18, between the label 20 and the second face 14 of the necktie 10.

Also, on the second face 14 of the necktie 10, and proximate to the second end 18, there is provided a button strip 22, also shown in magnified detail, extending along the length of the necktie 10 and comprising a plurality of spaced buttonholes, likewise spaced along the length of the necktie 10. The button strip 22 can have stitching 26 all around its circumference, or can have stitching 26 only on two or three sides, thereby to allow access to its rear, concealed side for ease in the action of doing-up and undoing buttons.

Figure 2 shows the necktie 10 when it is tied, together with magnified detail of the relative dispositions of the label 20 and the button strip 22.

When tied with a knot 28, not shown but taken to be around the collar of a shirt, in the manner in which the it is generally accustomed so to tie a necktie 10, the second end 18 of the necktie 10 is disposed such that it may be passed between the label 20 and the second face 14 of the first end 16 of the necktie to be retained there-behind. The button strip 22 extends beyond the label 20 in the direction between the first 16 and second 18 ends to provide buttonholes 24 in proximity to the label 20.

Figure 3 shows how the button strip 22 is attached to a shirt, and shows, in magnified detail, the engagement between the buttonholes 24 and the buttons on a shirt.

As is well known in the art, a shirt 30, whose front is shown in partial completeness, comprises a row of buttons 32 whereby the closing portions of the front of the shirt 30 are attached, one to another, to fasten the shirt 30 around the torso of the wearer. With the necktie 10 tied around the collar of the shirt 30, and the label 20 and the button strip 22 as shown in figure 2, the buttonholes 24 are able to engage the buttons 32. Because the buttonholes 24 are spaced, despite random error in the lengths of the first 16 and second 18 end of the necktie 10 when being tied, at least one buttonhole 24 will be in a position to engage at least one of the buttons 32, although it is preferred that more than one button 32 and buttonhole 24 are employed, preferably one either side of the label, to attach the second face 24 of the second end 18 of the necktie 10 to the shirt 30 front and, via the action of the label 20, also attach the first end in a constrained relationship with the shirt 30 front and thereby cause the necktie 10 to conceal the row of buttons 32.

Figure 4 shows an alternative embodiment of the invention, where the button strip 22 is omitted and, in its place, alternative buttonholes 24' are cut clear through the second end 18 of the necktie 10. The alternative buttonholes 24', when the necktie 10 is tied, are disposed about the label similarly to the buttonholes 24 of figure 3. When engaging the buttons 32, instead of being restrained by the button strip 22, the buttons 32 are passed from the second surface 14 to engage the first surface 12 of the second end 18 of the necktie. The alternative buttonholes 24' are shown as being disposed with their long axes along the length of the tie 10. This is not restrictive. The present invention also emcompasses the situation where the alternative buttonholes 24' have their long axes across the width of the necktie 10, that is to say, oriented at right angles to the direction shown in figure 4, which is preferred in those instances where the seam, on the second surface 14 of the necktie 10, as is usually present during fabrication, prevents ready provision of the alternative buttonholes 24' with their long axes along the length of the necktie.

Finally, figure 5 shows a necktie with a third embodiment of the invention, where thread or fabric loops 34, on the second face 14 of the second end 18 of the necktie 10, are spaced, just like the buttonholes 24 and alternative buttonholes 24', along the length of the necktie 10, to engage the buttons 32 similarly to the buttonholes 24 and alternative buttonholes 24'.

While a plurality of spaced buttonholes 24, alternative buttonholes 24' or loops 24, have been shown in the embodiments of the invention, it is to be appreciated that the present invention can be practised employing just a single buttonhole 24, just a single modified buttonhole 24', or just a single loop.

Claims (9)

CLAIMS.

1. A necktie for tying about the collar of a shirt, said necktie comprising a first face for presentation when said necktie is tied about the collar of a shirt and a second face to be concealed when said necktie is tied about the collar of a shirt, said necktie further comprising a first end adapted for the first face thereof to be visible when said necktie is tied around the collar of a shirt, and a second end, adapted to be concealed behind said first and held against the second surface of said second end when said necktie is tied around the collar of a shirt, said necktie being characterised by further comprising means, proximate to said second end, for attachment of said second end to a button on the shirt to hold said necktie, when tied about the collar of the shirt, against the front of the shirt.

2. A necktie, according to claim 1, wherein said attachment means comprises a buttonhole.

3. A necktie, according to claim 2, wherein said buttonhole is one of a plurality of buttonholes, spaced along the length of said necktie.

4. A necktie, according to claim 2, wherein said attachment means comprises a button strip, said buttonhole being through-penetrative of said button strip.

5. A necktie, according to claim 3, wherein said plurality of buttonholes are provided on a button strip.

6. A necktie, according to claim 2 or claim 3, wherein said buttonhole or buttonholes are through-penetrative of the fabric of said necktie.

7. A necktie, according to claim 1, wherein said attachment means comprises a loop, adapted to engage a button.

8. A necktie, according to claim 7, wherein said loop is one of a plurality of loops, spaced along the length of said necktie.

9. A necktie, substantially as described, with reference to the appended drawings.