US2465998A - Bathing cap - Google Patents

Description

April 5, 1949.

F. W. BOVVDITCH BATHING CAF Fied April 6, 1946 Patented Apr. 5, 1949 &465,998

BATHING CAP Frederick Bowditch, Los Angeles, Calif., as-

signor of one-haif to Charles l). Shaw, Santa Monica, Calif.

Application April 6, 1946, Serial No. 660,253

7 Claims.

My invention relates to bathing caps and has for its primary object to provide a bathng cap Which may be opened to slip easily over the wearer's head and hair without disturbing the hair, and then closed snugly around the forehead, checks and neck to form a smoothly fitting, substantially watertight protection.

A further object is to provide a bathing cap which eliminates the need of Stretching or distorting the bathing cap in order to fit it over the head so that the cap may be made of material having less Stretching capability than must be provided in conventional caps, thus increasing the range of materials from which the cap may be made.

A further object is to provide a bathing cap which employs slide fasteners to draw segments of the cap together over a sealing web so that the cap remains watertight, and which, by reason of the fact that the segments may be so drawn together, provides a particularly smooth and orm-tting contour over the back of the head and neck.

With the above and other Objects in view, as may appear hereinafter, reference is directed to the following drawings, in which:

Figure lis a side perspective View of my bather's cap shown as it appears when WOrn, and indicating by dotted lines the enlarged form which it assumes When being fitted over one s head, or being removed.

Figure 2 is a rear perspective view of my bather's cap, shown as it appears when worn, and indicating by dotted line the folded pleat.

Figure 3 is a rear perspective view of my bathers cap as it appears when opened.

Figure 4 is a similar rear View of a modified form of my bathefs cap.

Figure 5 is an enlarged, transverse, sect onal view through 5-5 of Fig. 2, Showing the manner in which the pleat fol-'is on opposite sides of the slide fastener, the pleat folds, however, being separated to facilitate the illustration.

My bathing cap, represented generally at l, is shaped to conform to the wearer's head and' is provided with a face opening 2 and a neck opening 3 which intersect at the juncture of the face and neck openings to form tabs l which are joined by a chin strap 5. suitable fastening elements are provided on the tabs and chin strap.

The cap member is split from a point at the crown of the head, over the back of the head, and to the midpoint of the neck opening 3. The coacting parts of a slide fastener 6 are secured along opposite margins of the slit and a slide 'l 2 is provided for joining the two parts of the slide fastener, so that when joined the cap forms a complete covering for the hair. The Slit provided with the slide fastener 5 divides the back portion of the cap into two segments. In addition to the slide fastener these are connected by means of a gore 8 which is sewed to the two segments along the margin of the slit. The gore is adapted to fold upon itself, as shown in Fig. 5, when the two f Segments are brought together, and spreads out,

as shown in Fig. 3, When the slide fastener is disengaged or opened.

The cap member l may be forrned of molded rubber, or of various plastics, and is shaped so that it conforms quite accurately to the curvature of the head, particularly around the back of the head as it joins the neck. The presence of the gore, however, enables the ides of the cap member to be spread apart, as shown in Fig. 3,

"* and by dotted lines in Fig. l, so that the cap may be slipped over the hair without disturbing the coiffure, and then caused to t snugly by closing the slide fastener It will be observed that the cap need not be stretched over the head, or bind the sides of the head, in order to fit Snugly around the margins of the face and neck openings. Furthermore, nasmuch as the material comprising the cap need not be Stretched over the head either in the course of fitting the cap on the head or removing it, it follows that various plastic materials may be used which do not have the Stretching characteristics of rubber. Some of these materials are superior to rubber With regard to appearance, transparency, or teXt-ure, but they have heretofore been unsuitable due to the need for Stretching the conventionally constructed cap over the head.

The gore, when folded as shown in Fig. 5, provides an adequate shield against the entrance of water through the slide fastener 6. While the gore may be made of the same material as the cap member i, it is desirable, insofar as the strength of the materia] permits, to construct the gore from material which is relatively thin as compared to the material comprising the cap member so that the gore may fold snugly with a minimum bulk.

Reference is directed to Fig. 4, wherein there is illustrated a modified form of my bathing cap. The essential difierence from the previously described cap is the provision of two slits extending from a point adjacent the crown, down the back of the cap and behind the ears, so that the back portion of the cap is divided into three Segments. The two slits are provided With slide 3 fasteners l I and are bridged by two gores I2. In either construction a snugly fitting cap is provided Without undue Stretching of any part.

Many other embodiments of the invention may be resorted to Without departing from the Spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A bather's cap involving: a head conforming cap having openings for the face and neck of the wearer, and defining at least one slit extending from the neck to the crown of the cap; a gore set in said slit and sealed to the margins thereof, and a continuous fastener means extending the length of said slit for drawing the margins of said slit into juxtaposition.

2. A bather s cap involving: a cap structure shaped to conform to the Wearer's head and defining communicating face and neck openings, said cap structure also defining a slit extending from the neck to the crown of the cap, a gore set in said cap and sealed to the margins of Said slit whereby the face and neck openings of the cap may be enlarged and the margins of said cap extend divergingly for ready placement over the wearer's head, and continuous fastener means eXtending the length of said slit for drawing the margins .of said slit into juxtaposition and draw said cap structure into Conformity with the Wearer's head.

3. A bather's cap involving: at least a pair of head covering elements together defining a headconforming cap structure having connected face and neck openings, the frontal portions of said elements being integrally connected, their top and rearward portion defining a slit, coacting continuous connecting means along the margins of said slit to join said elements together, and a flexible eXpander element sealed to each of said head covering elements and bridging said slit to permit expansion of said head and neck openings by separation of Said head covering elements in the region of said slit, and forming a seal to eX- clude water from entrance through said slit.

4. A bather's cap involving: a pair of head conforming side portions and a central portion adapted when juXtaposed to form a cap structure conforming to the wearer's head and having connecting face and neck openings, Said portions joined integrally from the crown to the face opening of the cap structure and defining slits continuing from the crown to the neck opening thereof, continuous coacting means along the margins of said slits to join said portions together, and a flexible eXpander element sealed to adjacent portions and bridging Said slits to permit expansion of said head and neck openings by separation of said portions in the region of Said slits, and forming a seal to exclude water from entrance through said slits.

5. A bather*s cap involving: a head conforming cap having openings for the face and neck of the Wearer, and defining at least one slit eX- tending from the neck to the crown of the cap; a chin strap separating said face and neck openings; a gore set in said slit and sealed to the margins thereof, and a continuous fastener means extending the length of said slit for drawing the margins of said slit into juXtaposition, and coacting With said chin strap to cause the margins of said neck opening to conform closely to the neck of the wearer.

6. A bather's cap involving: a cap structure shaped to conform to the wearer s head and defining communicating face and neck openings, said cap structure also defining a slit eXtending from the neck to the crown of the cap; a chin strap separating said face and neck openings; a gore set in said cap and sealed to the margins of Said slit whereby the face and neck openings of the cap may be enlarged and the margins of said cap extend divergingly for ready placement over the wearefs head, and continuous fastener means eXtending the length of said slit for drawing the margins of said slit into juxtaposition and draw said cap structure into Conformity with the wearer's head, and coacting with said chin strap to cause the margins of said neck opening to conform closely to the neck of the wearer.

7. A bather's cap involving: a pair of head conforming side portions and a central portion adapted When juxtaposed to form a cap structure conforming to the Wearer's head and having connecting face and neck openings, said portions joined integraily from the crown to the face opening :of the cap structure and defining slits continuing from the crown to the neck opening thereof; a chin strap separating said face and neck openings; continuous coacting means along the margins of Said slits to join said portions together, and a flexible expander element sealed to adjacent portions and bridging Said slits to permit expansion of said head and neck openings by separation of said portions in the region of said slits, and orming a seal to exclude water from entrance through said slits, and coacting With said chin strap to cause the margins of said neck opening to conform closely to the neck of the wearer.

FREDERICK W. BOWDITCH.

REFERENCES CTED The following references are of record in the fiie of this patent:

UNITED STATES` PATENTS Number Name Date 1,742,314 I-IuSman Jan. 7, 1930 2,066,713 Bowland Jan. 5, 1937 2,229,825 Stachel Jan. 28, 1941 2,312,66 Turchin Mar. 2, 1943

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