US20040123376A1

US20040123376A1 - Headgear with transformable peak structure

Info

Publication number: US20040123376A1
Application number: US10/328,039
Authority: US
Inventors: Tai-Kuang Wang
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-12-26
Filing date: 2002-12-26
Publication date: 2004-07-01

Abstract

Headgear contains a transformable peak structure which is basically provided with a flexible material (such as metal sheet or metal meshwork) including aluminum, iron, copper, titanium, nickel, stainless steel, etc. The upper and lower sides of the flexible material are both adhered or hot-pressed with a coating layer. The adhered coating layer could be fabrics, paper, foamed EVA sheet, foamed PE sheet, whereas the hot-pressed coating layer could be PVC, silicone and plastics as PE or PP, etc. so that the peak of the headgear can be freely tranformed by hands.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

1. Application of the Invention

The invention relates to headgear having a flexible peak structure, so that a wearer may freely adjust the style of the headgear. The invention is especially applicable to headgear with a peak (such as baseball cap, tennis cap, etc.) for the purposes of presenting the wearer's individuality and style.

2. Brief Description of Prior Art

Headgear has become a popular accessory of outdoor wear. While the head-wearable caps have been designed and extensively used, the styling and aesthetic effects of the caps are more and more of concern to the consumers. People would wear various caps depending on different timing, occasion and clothing, rendering the derivation of various types of peaked headgear.

Taking the essential structure and style of a sports cap shown in FIG. 1 for example, the cap, basically a leisure cap (or baseball cap), has six gores seamed to form a

crown

10, and a peak 20 secured to the front edge of the crown 10 to satisfy sun block requirements. The structure of the peak 20 generally includes a moldable board in-between the upper and lower fabric layers, and a seam 21 is formed on the brim of the peak 20.

The outer appearance of the conventional cap cannot be greatly varied based on the reasons that the

peak

20 is usually made of rigid plastic in the form of a flat or fixed first quarter moon shape, thus preventing any method of styling. Given the single style and the non-adjustable peak shape, the cap cannot provide the feature of free adjustment and shaping.

Accordingly, the motive of the invention is to design headgear having a transformable peak such that the wearer may easily bend the peak to form a shape as he/she likes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a peak board structure which may be freely bended and transformed. When the invention is applied to headgear, the headgear may be variable in style and shape.

To reach the above-mentioned purposes, the flexible peak structure according to the invention contains a flexible metal material (such as metal sheet or metal meshwork), as long as materials in the form of a sheet can be available. Said material may include aluminum, iron, copper, titanium, nickel, stainless steel, etc. The upper and lower sides of the flexible material are both adhered or hot-pressed with a coating layer which could be non-woven fabric with hot melt adhesive, foamed EVA sheet, PVC, silicone, PE or PP, etc. The adhered coating layer could be fabrics, paper, foamed EVA sheet, foamed PE sheet, whereas the hot-pressed coating layer could be PVC, silicone and plastics as PE or PP, etc. such that the peak of the headgear can be freely tranformed by hands and has the function of anti-corresion as well.

One may better understand the detailed structure and other features of the invention by reading the following detailed descriptions of the embodiments along with the accompanied drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an external view of a cap of prior art. [0011]
FIG. 2 is an exploded view of an embodiment according to the present invention. [0012]
FIG. 3 schematically shows a use status of the present invention, wherein the peak of the cap can form various styles via forcible bending by hands. [0013]
FIG. 4 schematically shows various outer appearance and style of the present invention. [0014]
FIG. 5 schematically shows a use status of the present invention. [0015]
FIG. 6 is an exploded view of another embodiment of the present invention. [0016]
FIG. 7 is an exploded view of a furhter embodiment of the present invention.[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows an outer appearance of a cap of prior art. As previously described, the peak thereof cannot be freely adjusted, and thus the style is rather dull and inactive. [0018]
As shown in FIG. 2, the [0019] peak structure 30 according to the invention is provided with a peak-shape aluminum meshwork 31, two pieces of peak-shape non-woven fabric with hot melt adhesive 32. The size of the aluminum meshwork 31 is slightly smaller than that of the non-woven fabric. The aluminum meshwork 31 is provided with a plurality of punched holes 33 which may reduce the weight of the peak board and increase the adhesion of the components of the peak. The hot melt adhesive 34 of the non-woven fabric 32 is adhered to each side of the aluminum meshwork, so that the non-woven fabric 32 with hot melt adhesive may be adhered to the aluminum meshwork 31 by a hot-press which is pre-set with the temperature and pressing time. A flexible and transformable peak 30 can be completed after successfully processing the first hot-pressing to combine the non-woven fabric and the aluminum sheet and subsequently the second hot-pressing on the adverse side.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, as the [0020] peak 30 is provided with an aluminum meshwork 31, the wearer may bend with fingers 50 the peak 30 of the cap 10 on ends A and B to form a preferred style. As shown in FIG. 4, the peak 30 is changeable in terms of the outline so that it can present a peak with slight arc 30A or a peak with greater arc 30B (also shown in FIG. 5) if being bended with stronger strength. The peak 30C of the cap can even be bended to a
shape to fit the active and variable style of the youth.
However, in the above-mentioned processes, the material of the coating layer can be plastics as PVC, PE, PP, etc. or non-woven fabric with hot melt adhesive for adhering to the surface of the aluminum meshwork via hot-pressing. [0021]
In another preferred embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the non-woven fabric with [0022] hot melt adhesive 32 is combined with a metal meshwork 40 via adhering hot melt adhesive 34 to the metal meshwork 40, pre-heating a side of the combined material, hot-pressing another side after the structure is duly combined to form a big sheet material 41, and cutting the sheet material into small pieces of peak board 30 by cutting mold 42.
In conclusion, the invention can improve the dull style of the prior art by providing the flexible elements in the peak to enable a change of the style thereof and, in turn, the style of the cap. Therefore, the effect of varying the cap style with matching decorations on the cap can be reached. The utility of the peak according to the invention is greatly increased, since it can suit all kinds of peaked headgear, and with the doubtless value, the inventor of the invention claims the exposure. [0023]

DESINGATED NUMBERS FOR ELEMENTS

[0024] 10 . . . crown
[0025] 20 . . . peak
[0026] 21 . . . seam
[0027] 30 . . . peak
[0028] 31 . . . aluminum meshwork
[0029] 32 . . . non-woven fabric with hot melt adhesive
[0030] 33 . . . punched holes
[0031] 34 . . . hot melt adhesive
A . . . an end [0032]
B . . . another end [0033]
[0034] 40 . . . metal meshwork
[0035] 41 . . . big sheet material
[0036] 42 . . . cutting mold
[0037] 50 . . . fingers

Claims

1. A kind of headgear with a transformable peak structure, at least including a flexible metal material which is pre-cut into peak shape pieces and adhered or hot-pressed with a coating layer on at least one side thereof, so that after being sewed to the headgear, the peak may be freely bended by hands to change style.

2. The headgear with a transformable peak structure according to claim 1, wherein the flexible metal material is a metal meshwork.

3. The headgear with a transformable peak structure according to claim 1, wherein the flexible metal material is in the form of a sheet which could be aluminum, iron, copper, titanium, nickel or stainless steel.

4. The headgear with a transformable peak structure according to claim 3, wherein the metal sheet is provided with bore holes.

5. The headgear with a transformable peak structure according to claim 3, wherein the metal sheet is provided with punched holes.

6. The headgear with a transformable peak structure according to claim 1, wherein the coating layer could be fabric, paper, foamed EVA sheet or foamed PE sheet, which is adhesive after being processed.

7. The headgear with a transformable peak structure according to claim 1, wherein the coating layer could be soft plastics such as PVC, silicone or PP.

8. The headgear with a transformable peak structure according to claim 1, wherein both sides of the flexible metal materials are hot-pressed with coating layers.

9. The headgear with a transformable peak structure according to claim 1, wherein both sides of the flexible metal materials are adhered with coating layers.

10. The headgear with a transformable peak structure according to claim 3, wherein the coating layer is adhered to at least one side of the flexible metal sheet to integrally form a big sheet material which is subsequently cut into small pieces of peak board.

11. The headgear with a transformable peak structure according to claim 3, wherein the coating layer is hot-pressed on at least one side of the flexible metal sheet to integrally form a big sheet material which is subsequently cut into small pieces of peak board.

12. The headgear structure with a transformable peak according to claim 11, wherein the flexible big sheet material could be made via adding a metal meshwork to a plastic board produced by a continuous extrusion machine before the plastic board is hardened, and the metal meshwork is integrated with the plastic board by the pressure of rollers of the continuous extrusion machine.

13. The headgear structure with a transformable peak according to claim 2, wherein the metal meshwork is made of metal cord.

14. The headgear structure with a transformable peak according to claim 2, wherein the metal meshwork is formed by punching holes on a metal sheet.