US3268911A

US3268911A - Combination hat and ventilated protective shell

Info

Publication number: US3268911A
Application number: US400018A
Authority: US
Inventors: Wilma W Cox
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1964-09-29
Filing date: 1964-09-29
Publication date: 1966-08-30
Anticipated expiration: 1983-08-30

Description

W. W. COX

Aug. 30, 1966 COMBINATION HAT AND VENTILATED PROTECTIVE SHELL Filed Sept. 29, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. MAMA M Cox ,4 rap/v66 Aug.' .5 1966 w, w, CQX ,6,M

COMBINATION HAT AND VENTILATED PROTECTIVE SHELL Filed Sept. 29, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. M044 4/ Cox A? zi /V675 a azeasn Ice Patented August 30, 1966 3,268,911 COMBINATION HAT AND VENTILATED PRQTECTlVE SHELL Wilma W. yCox, 930 th Ave, New York 21, N.Y. Filed Sept. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 400,018 3 Claims. (Cl. 2-3) This invention relates to protective hat coverings and more particularly to a head covering including a conventional hat and an inner protective shell.

In recent years increasing attention has been given to the utilization of various types of protective coverings for the head in sports and other recreational activities whereas in the past such protective coverings were almost entirely involved in industrial and commercial activities. Recently professional baseball leagues adopted requirements for hard shell hats to be worn by all players at least while taking their turn at bat. In all known respects such hard shell hats have not had the identical external appearance as the normal playing cap of the baseball player and consequently have lacked the preferred attributes thereof at least from an aesthetic standpoint. In addition, prior protective devices of the latter general type have been found to be relatively uncomfortable for the wearer due to the fact that the shell member is non-porous and additionally to the fact that the shell fits closely about the head. Consequently, wearing of such a device for any substantial period of time, or even for a short time under certain circumstances, increases the tendency to perspire which in addition to the discomfort, increases the likelihood that the hat will slide off the wearers head thereby removing the protection.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a hat, more particularly a sports cap or the like, having the conventional external appearance of such a hat, and having retained within it by the normal sweatband of the hat, a protective shell which provides a shaping form for the hat and has an inner head harness assembly carrying a second sweatband for engagement with the head of the wearer to provide a ventilated space between the head of the wearer and the inner shell throughout the inner contour thereof.

Another object is to provide a hat with an easily insertable and removable inner protective shell.

Another object is to provide a device of the above type in which the inner shell has, in addition to the inner harness, a resilient lining for the shell to provide protection against severe blows.

Briefly the present invention comprises in combination a cap having a peripheral sweatband therein, the cap and the sweatband being joined at their lower edges and the sweatband extending upwardly within the cap to provide a shell receiving pocket therelbetween. A head protective shell dimensioned to be received within the cap is disposed therein in close conformity with the interior surface of the cap and has a lower peripheral edge disposed within said pocket to retain the shell in the cap. A head harness assembly is disposed within the shell having a crown portion spaced from the shell and circumferentially spaced depending strap members each having a lower pair of fastening tabs. The first tab of each pair is releasably affixed to the shell adjacent the lower edge thereof and lies within said pocket at its lower end portion. The second tab of each strap member lies inwardly of the sweatband, outside of the pocket, and a second sweatband is releasably affixed to said second tabs near their lower ends and is carried thereby at an inwardly spaced position from the first named sweatband providing a peripheral ventilated space between said sweatband communicating with the space between the shell and the crown portion of the harness. Resilient pad means are afiixed to the inner surface of the shell at least on those portions at the inner top thereof and between adjacent strap members of the harness.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description and claims, and in the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a hat according to the present invention shown in use;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section taken along line 3-3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded assembly view.

Referring to the drawings, a hat and protective shell combination according to the present invention is designated generally by reference numeral 10. It is comprised of a conventional hat of any desired type such as the sports cap 11 shown having the conventional. sweatband 12. The hat 11 and sweatband 12 are joined together at a common bottom edge 13 by any conventional means and the sweatband 12 extends upwardly as viewed in FIG. 3 to provide a pocket or interstitial space 14 between the sweatband 12 and the lower peripheral portion 15 of the hat 11.

Disposed within said hat is protective shell member 16 fabricated from any conventional hard plastic or other material used in conventional protective shells. Shell member 16 is dimensioned to fit snugly within hat 11 and provides a shaping contour therefor. The shell 16 is retained in place within hat 11 by means of its lower peripheral edge portion 17 which is received within pocket 14 of the hat and is easily insertable and removable therefrom.

Disposed within shell 16 is a head harness assembly designated generally by reference numeral 18 which is fabricated of any desired material such as a flexible plastic or the like and has a crown portion 19 disposed at a spaced position from the inner top portion 20 of the shell 16 and has a plurality of depending strap members 21 at circumferentially spaced positions each having at its lower end a pair of tab portions designated generally by reference numeral 22, one tab 23 of each pair having a hole configuration 24 adapted for releasable interconnection with button fastener members 25 affixed to the lower portion 26 of the shell at corresponding circumferentially spaced positions and extending inwardly from the inner surface 27 of the shell 16. The lower portion 26 of shell 16 including the button fasteners 25 and the lower end portions 28 of the tabs 23 are disposed within the circumferential pocket 14.

Second tabs 29 of each pair 22 lie outside of pocket 14, i.e. inwardly from sweatband 12, and have at their lower ends 30 fastener holes 31 to releasably interconnect by manual pressure with fastener buttons 32 extending outwardly from the periphery of inner sweatband 33 to mount the latter sweatband to the head harness assembly 18.

Resilient pad means 34 of any desired material, provid ing any preselected degree of resilience and compression strength, are secured by adhesion or other conventional means, to the inner surface 27 of shell 16 to provide secondary protection from more severe blows and such pad means 34 are located at the inner crown portion 20 and at spaced temple positions located at circumferential positions between the depending strap members 21. Optionally the shell 16 may include ventilation holes 35 at any desired locations.

By the above arrangement it is seen that the peripheral interstitial space 36 between the hat sweatband 12 and the inner sweatband 33 communicates with the space 37 between the harness assembly 21 and the shell 16 to provide a continuous hemispherical ventilating space for the head of the wearer and since the sweatband 33 is adjustable such ventilating cavity 36 can be varied as desired for greater or less ventilating characteristics. In addition to the ventilating characteristics provided by the inner sweatband 33 it is also obvious that such second sweatband also contributes to the shock absorption quality of the entire combination.

It is to be understood that changes and additions may be made to the above invention as described in the single embodiment without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. In combination a sportscap having a peripheral sweatband therein, said sportscap and said sweatband being joined at their lower edges and said sweatband extending upwardly within said sportscap to provide a shell receiving pocket therebetween, a head protective shell dimensioned to be received within said sportscap and disposed therein in close conformity with the interior surface thereof, said shell having a lower peripheral edge disposed within said pocket whereby said shell is retained in said cap, a head harness disposed within said shell having a crown portion spaced from said shell and circumferentially spaced depending strap members each having a lower pair of fastener tabs, the first tab of each said pair releasably aflixed to said shell adjacent the lower edge thereof and lying within said pocket, the second tab of each said pair lying inwardly of said sweatband, a second sweatband releasably affixed to said second tabs near their lower ends and carried thereby at an inwardly spaced position from said first named sweatband, providing a peripheral ventilating space between said sweatbands communicating with the space between said shell and said crown portion of said harness.

2. In combination a sportscap having a peripheral sweatband therein, said sportscap and said sweatband being joined at their lower edges and said sweatband extending upwardly within said sports cap to provide a shell receiving pocket therebetween, a head protective shell dimensioned to be received within said sportscap and disposed therein to close conformity with the interior surface thereof, said shell having a lower peripheral edge displosed within said pocket whereby said shell is retained in said cap, a head harness disposed within said shell having a crown portion spaced from said shell and circumferentially spaced depending strap members each having a lower pair of fastener tabs, the first tab of each said pair releasably affixed to said shell adjacent the lower edge thereof and lying within said pocket, the second tab of each said pair lying inwardly of said sweatband, a second sweatband releasably afiixed to said second tabs near their lower ends and carried thereby at an inwardly spaced position from said first named sweatband, provid ing a peripheral ventilating space between said sweatbands communicating with the space between said shell and said crown portion of said harness, and resilient pad means affixed to the inner surface of said shell.

3. In combination a sportscap having a peripheral sweatband therein, said sportscap and said sweatband being joined at their lower edges and said sweatband extending upwardly within said sportscap to provide a shell receiving pocket therebetween, a head protective shell dimensioned to be received within said sportscap and disposed therein in close conformity with the interior surface thereof, said shell having a lower peripheral edge disposed within said pocket whereby said shell is retained in said cap, a head harness disposed within said shell having a crown portion spaced from said shell and circumferentially spaced depending strap members each having a lower pair of fastener tabs, the first tab of each said pair releasably afiixed to said shell adjacent the lower edge thereof and lying within said pocket, the second tab of each said pair lying inwardly of said sweatband, a second sweatband releasably afiixed to said second tabs near their lower ends and carried thereby at an inwardly spaced position from said first named sweatband, providing a peripheral ventilating space between said sweatbands communicating with the space between said shell and said crown portion of said harness, and resilient pad means afiixed to the inner surface of said shell at least on those portions at the inner top of said shell and between adjacent strap members of said harness.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,763,863 9/1956 Bowers 23 2,983,923 5/1961 Aileo 23 3,026,523 3/1962 Bowers et al 23 3,055,013 9/1962 Aileo 23 3,103,015 9/1963 Plastino 23 3,154,788 11/1964 Simpson 23 3,192,536 7/1965 Benner 23 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

J. R. BOLER, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. IN COMBINATION A SPORTCAP HAVING A PERIPHERAL SWEATBAND THEREIN, SAID SPORTCAP AND SAID SWEATBAND BEING JOINED AT THEIR LOWER EDGES AND SAID SWEATBAND EXTENDING UPWARDLY WITHIN SAID SPORTCAP TO PROVIDE A SHELL RECEIVING POCKET THEREBETWEEN, A HEAD PROTECTIVE SHELL DIMENSIONED TO BE RECEIVED WITHIN SAID SPORTCAP AND DISPOSED THEREIN IN CLOSE CONFORMITY WITH THE INTERIOR SURFACE THEREOF, SAID SHELL HAVING A LOWER PERIPHERAL EDGE DISPOSED WITHIN SAID POCKET WHEREBY SAID SHELL IS RETAINED IN SAID CAP, A HEAD HARNESS DISPOSED WITHIN SAID SHELL HAVING A CROWN PORTION SPACED FROM SAID SHELL AND CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED DEPENDING STRAP MEMBERS EACH HAVING A LOWER PAIR OF FASTENERS TABS, THE FIRST TAB OF EACH SAID PAIR RELEASABLY AFFIXED TO SAID SHELL ADJACENT THE LOWER EDGE THEREOF AND LYING WITHIN SAID POCKET, THE SECOND TAB OF EACH AND PAIR LYING INWARDLY OF SAID SWEATBAND, A SECOND SWEATBAND RELEASABLY AFFIXED TO SAID SECOND TABS NEAR THEIR LOWER ENDS AND CARRIED THEREBY AT AN INWARDLY SPACED POSITION FROM SAID FIRST NAMED SWEATBAND, A PROVIDING A PERIPHERAL VENTILATING SPACE BETWEEN SAID SWEATBANDS COMMUNICATING WITH THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID SHELL AND SAID CROWN PORTION OF SAID HARNESS.