WO2011047417A1

WO2011047417A1 - Multi-purpose garment

Info

Publication number: WO2011047417A1
Application number: PCT/AU2010/001369
Authority: WO
Inventors: Kathryn Dominique Cowle
Original assignee: Kathryn Dominique Cowle
Priority date: 2009-10-19
Filing date: 2010-10-15
Publication date: 2011-04-28
Also published as: AU2010310870A1

Abstract

A multi-purpose garment (1) including at least one inflatable portion (13). The garment (1) may be in the form of a hoodie, and is particularly useful when travelling, such that the inflatable portion (13) may be inflated when desired to provide comfortable support to the head/neck of the wearer. The garment (1) includes an arrangement of zippers (15, 16, 17, 18) such that the garment may be folded and formed into the shape of a bag for carrying when not being worn.

Description

MULTI-PURPOSE GARMENT

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a garment, and in particular, to a garment which includes at least one inflatable portion.

The garment also includes a fastening means provided about at least a portion of the garment, such that the garment may be selectively provided in either a wearing position, or a folded position.

The present invention is particularly useful as a garment which may be utilised when travelling such that, during an inflated position, the garment provides additional support to a body portion of a wearer, particularly the head/neck, and, whilst in a folded position, the garment may be easily packaged for carrying.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

When travelling long distances, particularly by plane, train or bus, travellers often wish to rest or sleep. Sitting in a substantially upright position can become quite uncomfortable when wishing to rest or sleep, particularly when the motion of the plane, train or bus in which the person is travelling is bumpy or turbulent.

Travellers often purchase an inflatable neck support which is effectively a horseshoe shaped device which is inserted about the neck of the user. Such devices are intended to assist in providing support to the head of the wearer to aid in the comfort of the person when trying to rest or sleep during travel. The drawbacks of such a device are that it is easily prone to become dislodged, and, even if it is in its correct position, it is not shaped well to provide comfortable support to the wearer. Also, when travelling, many persons like to provide support about the lumbar region of their back. This is normally provided by placement of a pillow or other article in that region. This also assists in the comfort of the person when trying to rest or sleep during travel. However, this requires the provision of a pillow by the airline, or other transportation organisation, or, the traveller to carry their own pillow, neither of which sometimes occurs.

Furthermore, when travelling, persons often carry a variety of additional clothes such that, particularly during times of rest or sleep, the person does not become cold.

Typically, during a long haul flight, or an overnight bus or train trip, temperatures drop and travellers can become quite cold. Sometimes, blankets or the like might be provided by the transportation organisation, but even still, such blankets may be insufficient to keep the traveller as warm as desired. As such, travellers typically carry additional clothing to put on during periods of rest or sleep. Such additional clothing is however often bulky and, along with other personal items carried on a plane, train, bus or the like, can become cumbersome to carry when the article of clothing is not desired to be worn, such as when embarking or disembarking from the transport.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention seeks to provide a garment which overcomes some of the disadvantages of the aforementioned prior art.

The present invention also seeks to provide a garment which is particularly useful for travel on planes, buses, trains, etc.

The present invention seeks to provide a garment which has at least one inflatable portion which is adapted to be selectively inflated to provide support to at least a portion of the body of the wearer, as and when desired. The present invention also seeks to provide a garment which is able to be folded and detachably maintained in a folded position whilst not being worn.

The present invention also seeks to provide a garment which has other useful features for provision of an electronic device, such as an MP3 player or mobile phone, and which has integrated wiring to provide audio signals to the ears of a wearer.

The present invention also seeks to provide a garment which has at least one pocket useful for providing travel documents or like articles and which is readily accessible during both a wearing position and a folded position of the garment.

In one broad form the present invention provides a garment, including an inflatable neck portion. Preferably, said garment includes a hood.

Also preferably, said garment is a hoodie, jacket, windcheater, coat, shirt, vest or like garment which is adapted to substantially cover at least the upper torso of the wearer. Preferably, said inflatable neck portion is shaped to substantially contour at least a portion of the head/neck of a wearer.

Also preferably, said inflatable neck portion is removably or permanently attached to said garment.

Preferably, the garment further includes fastening means to detachably maintain said garment in a folded position when not being worn.

Preferably, said fastening means includes any one or combination of a hook and loop fastener (Velcro), press stud, button or other detachable fastening means. Preferably, said fastening means is provided along at least a portion of each side edge of said garment and along at least a portion of said garment transverse to said side edges, such that, upon securement of said fastening means, said garment is adapted to form the shape of a bag.

Also preferably, the garment further includes a strap, such that, when in the folded position, said strap is used for carrying the garment.

Preferably, the garment further includes an inflatable lumbar portion to provide lumbar support to a wearer.

Preferably, the garment further includes at least one pocket which is provided on the front of said garment when said garment is provided in a wearing position and which is provided on an outer surface when in said folded position.

Preferably, the garment further includes manual or automated inflation means for operation of said inflation portion(s) by said wearer.

Preferably, the garment further includes a pocket, for removable insertion of an MP3 player, an i-pod, a cell/mobile phone or like device into which earphones or headphones may be inserted, and; internal wiring provision to connect said earphones or headphone wires internally of an outer surface of said garment between said pocket and the ears of the wearer. Preferably, at least an outer surface of said garment is of substantially water resistant or waterproof material.

Preferably, the garment further includes a logo for display of advertising, indicia, trade marks or other pattern or ornamentation thereto, which is viewable in any one or both combinations of said wearing position, and said folded position. In a further broad form, the present invention provides a garment including at least one inflatable portion; and a fastening means provided about at least a portion of the periphery of said garment; wherein said garment is selectively provided in a wearing position, wherein said garment is adapted to be provided about at least a portion of the body of a wearer; an inflated position, wherein said at least one inflatable portion is adapted to be inflated to provide support to at least a portion of the body of said wearer; or a folded position, wherein said garment is folded and detachably maintained in said folded position by operation of said fastening means. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will become more fully understood from the following detailed description of a preferred but non-limiting embodiment thereof, described in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 illustrates a front view of a garment constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 illustrates a back view of the article of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 3 illustrates a side view of the article of Fig. 1 ;

Fig. 4 illustrates one preferred form of inflating an inflatable portion of the garment;

Fig. 5 illustrates, in Fig. 5(a), Fig. 5(b) and Fig. 5(c) thereof, the steps involved in folding the garment, and a folded position of the garment;

Fig. 6 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the garment of the present invention; Fig. 7 illustrates yet an alternative preferred form of the garment of the present invention;

Fig. 8 illustrates an alternatively preferred form of the garment with a different arrangement of fastening means thereon; and

Fig. 9 illustrates, in Figs. 9(a), 9(b), 9(c) and 9(d) the steps involved in folding the garment shown in Fig. 8. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Throughout the drawings, like numerals will be used to identify similar features, except where expressly otherwise indicated.

As shown Fig. 1 , a garment, generally designated by the numeral 1, may be typically in the form of a hoodie, having a central body portion 2, a hood portion 3, arms 4 and 5, and various pockets 6, 7, 8 and 9. The garment 1 is also shown having an elasticised waist portion 10, and elasticised wrist portions 1 1 and 12. The garment 1 may be of any design, shape or appearance with or without some of the aforementioned combination of components.

The garment of the present invention, as perhaps best illustrated in Figs. 2 or 3, includes at least one inflatable portion including, for example, a neck inflation portion 13 and/or a lumbar inflation portion 14.

The garment of the present invention also further includes fastening means 15, 16, 17 and 18. Fastening means 15 and 16 are complementary such that they can be attached together, and fastening means 17 and 18, are also complementary such that they can be attached together. For example, fastening means 15 and 16 may be two halves of a first zipper which zip together, and, fastening means 17 and 18 may be two halves of a second zipper which zip together.

As shown in Fig. 5, the garment 1 may typically be firstly initially folded such that the head and arm portions overlap the lower portion of the garment to form a substantially symmetrical square or rectangular shaped position as shown in Fig. 5(a) and Fig. 5(b). Once in this position, the garment can be folded again as shown by arrow 19 to form the position shown in Fig. 5(c). An optional strap 20 may then be attached between the opposed corners of the article such that it may be carried in the form of a bag or the like, such as shown in Fig. 5(c). The pairs of complementary fastening means 15 and 16, together with pairs of complementary fastening means 17 and 18 may include any one or combination of zippers, hook and loop fasteners (Velcro), press studs, buttons, or any other similar detachable fastening means. As seen in the drawings, the first complementary fastening means 15 and 16 are provided substantially along the front or rear bottom edge of the garment 1.

Likewise, the second fastening means 17 and 18 are provided substantially along each side edge of the lower portion of the garment 1.

An alternative version of the garment 1 is illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9. In Fig. 8(a) is shown a front view of an alternative embodiment of the garment having a different arrangement of fastening means thereon. Fig. 8(b) illustrates a rear view of the garment of Fig. 8(a). As shown in Fig. 8, the garment 1 incorporates

complementary zippers 40 and 41 positioned along the bottom half of each side of the garment 1 , and a further pair of complementary zippers 42 and 43 positioned to extend from each side of the garment, towards the centre of the back portion of the garment 1. It will be understood that when folded, as shown in Fig. 9, zippers 40 and 41 may be operated, as can zippers 42 and 43.

In Fig. 9, shows the main steps in folding the garment from a wearing position to a folded position.

Fig. 9(a) illustrates a first step wherein the arms 4 and 5 are initially folded across the front of the garment 1. Next, as shown in Fig. 9(b), the hood 3 is folded atop the remainder of the garment. The top half of the garment is then folded over the bottom half of the garment as shown in Fig. 9(c) whereby the zippers 42 and 43 are provided along the edge of the folded garment. Finally, the garment is folded in half again in the direction of arrow 44 such that the zippers 40 and 41 substantially align as do the zippers 42 and 43. Each of these zippers may then be zipped up such that the final folded position of the article as shown in Fig. 9(d) is achieved. Whilst the version of the garment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5 and Figs. 8 and 9 is of the form of a "pull over" or "hoodie" the garment may be in the form of any type of upper body garment. For example, a jacket arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 16 which includes a zipper 20 extending down the front of the garment, whilst a long coat 22 is illustrated in Fig. 7. In the version shown in Fig. 7, the lower zipper may optionally be provided at an intermediate portion of the article 23, so prior to folding the remainder of the article, the lower portion 24 is firstly provided in overlapping arrangement to the remainder of the coat.

As previously mentioned, a strap 25 may be applied to the article such that it may be easily carried when in its folded position. This may be achieved by incorporating suitable strap attachment means, such as shown by numerals 26, 27, 28 and 29 in Fig. 2 and Fig. 5(c). These may be in the form of buttons for a totally detachable strap 25, or alternatively, at least one end of the strap may be permanently secured to the article and the strap may then be used as a waist strap either around the front or rear of the article, by tying the loose end of the straps together. The other ends of the strap may then be easily releasably fastened by buttons or the like when in the folded position such as shown in Fig. 5(c). An additional zipper or other fastening means may be provided to 'close' the bag in this format. As shown in Fig. 1 , the garment may provide a plurality of pockets. As will be understood, these pockets may be provided in a variety of shapes and angles on the garment.

When travelling, it is often useful to have a front pocket on a garment, such as the pocket shown by reference numeral 6, for the provision of travel documentation, etc. Fig. 5(c) illustrates a pocket 6, which is provided in an easily accessible position on the front of the garment when in the wearing position shown in Fig. 1, and, which is also provided on the outer surface 30 of the folded garment as shown in Fig. 5(c), such that, appropriate <- travel documentation etc provided in that pocket 6 may still be readily accessed. Fig. 4 illustrates how the inflatable portions of the article may be inflated. This may be facilitated by the provision of an inflation tube 31 which is connected internally through the jacket lining to the inflation portions 13 and 14, the other end of which may be extracted from the pocket as and when desired, and positioned such that the user may blow into the tube 31 for inflation of those portions without removal of the jacket.

Consequential adjustment of the level of inflation of the inflation portions may be achieved in this manner. Alternatively instead of manually blowing into the tube 31, an automatic inflation means may alternatively be provided by pushing a button appropriately positioned on the jacket, to operate a source of compressed gas to expel into the inflatable portions. The garment may include a further pocket 32 into which an MP3 player, an i-pod, a cell/mobile phone or any like device into which earphones or headphones may be inserted is provided. Internal wiring may be provided within the lining of the garment such that earphones or headphones may be provided to the ears of the wearer. This may be in the form of earphones or headphones built into the hood 3 of the garment 1 or the like.

As will be understood, the inflation portion provided about the neck of the device of the present invention may be moulded into the hood portion such that the device may be inflated to substantially abut the chin and cheekbones up to the ears of the wearer to provide substantially more support to the head and neck of the wearer than with prior art ring type inflation devices which are simply positioned about the neck of the user and supported on the shoulders. This provides considerably more comfort to the wearer, as the extra height and support of the inflatable device of the present invention ensures less rocking or wobbling of the user's head during rest or sleep, particularly if the train, bus or plane is undergoing turbulence, going over bumps, or the like. It will also be appreciated that the garment or device may be provided with a logo 33 appropriately positioned on the garment for display during both the wearing position and the folded position, as illustrated, for example in Figs. 1 and 4 respectively. This may be used for the provision of advertising indicia, trade marks, or, other pattern or ornamentation applied thereto.

It will also be appreciated that the garment may be able to be constructed of any desired material and may either be of single layer or multi layer construction, may have insulative properties or otherwise, and may be manufactured of water resistant or waterproof material.

The garment of the present invention will therefore be readily seen to be a very useful garment for the purposes of travel in that it has a plurality of features which may selectively be utilised as and when desired, during periods of rest or sleep, particularly on a plane, train or bus. These provide added comfort to the wearer, whilst they may effectively be hidden away such that the garment may otherwise be utilised as a conventional top or jacket.

Furthermore, the garment may be folded and easily carried in the form of a bag whilst not being worn.

It will be appreciated that numerous other variations and modifications of this invention will become apparent. All such variations and modifications should be considered to fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as broadly herein described.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A garment, including an inflatable neck portion.

2. A garment as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said garment includes a hood.

3. A garment as claimed in claims 1 or 2, wherein said garment is a hoodie, jacket, windcheater, coat, shirt, vest or like garment which is adapted to substantially cover at least the upper torso of the wearer.

4. A garment as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said inflatable neck portion is shaped to substantially contour at least a portion of the head/neck of a wearer.

5. A garment as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said inflatable neck portion is removably or permanently attached to said garment.

6. A garment as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, further including fastening means to detachably maintain said garment in a folded position when not being worn.

7. A garment as claimed in claim 6, wherein said fastening means includes any one or combination of a hook and loop fastener (Velcro), press stud, button or other detachable fastening means.

8. A garment as claimed in claim 6 or 7, wherein said fastening means is provided along at least a portion of each side edge of said garment and along at least a portion of said garment transverse to said side edges, such that, upon securement of said fastening means, said garment is adapted to form the shape of a bag.

9. A garment as claimed in claim 8, further including a strap, such that, when in the folded position, said strap is used for carrying the garment.

10. A garment as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9, including an inflatable lumbar portion to provide lumbar support to a wearer.

1 1. A garment as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 10, further including at least one pocket which is provided on the front of said garment when said garment is provided in a wearing position and which is provided on an outer surface when in said folded position.

12. A garment as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 1 1 , further including manual or automated inflation means for operation of said inflation portion(s) by said wearer.

13. A garment as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12, further including:

a pocket, for removable insertion of an MP3 player, an i-pod, a cell/mobile phone or like device into which earphones or headphones may be inserted, and;

internal wiring provision to connect said earphones or headphone wires internally of an outer surface of said garment between said pocket and the ears of the wearer.

14. A garment as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein at least an outer surface of said garment is of substantially water resistant or waterproof material.

15. A garment as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14, further including a logo for display of advertising, indicia, trade marks or other pattern or ornamentation thereto, which is viewable in any one or both combinations of said wearing position, and said folded position.

16. A garment including:

at least one inflatable portion; and

a fastening means provided about at least a portion of the periphery of said garment;

wherein said garment is selectively provided in:

a wearing position, wherein said garment is adapted to be provided about at least a portion of the body of a wearer;

an inflated position, wherein said at least one inflatable portion is adapted to be inflated to provide support to at least a portion of the body of said wearer; or a folded position, wherein said garment is folded and detachably maintained in said folded position by operation of said fastening means.

17. A garment, substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

18. A method of transferring a garment between a wearing position, an inflated position and a folded position, substantially as herein described.