WO2012005743A1

WO2012005743A1 - Thermally insolated close fit, conforming neckpiece

Info

Publication number: WO2012005743A1
Application number: PCT/US2010/056415
Authority: WO
Inventors: Norman Pokras
Original assignee: Norman Pokras
Priority date: 2010-07-08
Filing date: 2010-11-11
Publication date: 2012-01-12

Abstract

A knit band formed with overlapping extremities mounting releasable fasteners for fastening together.

Description

THERMALLY INSOLATED CLOSE FIT, CONFORMING NECKPIECE

BACKGROUND

Field of the Invention:

The present invention relates to neck scarves. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Description of the Prior Art:

It has long been known that much of the body warmth escapes through the head and neck area. In modern day society where people quickly and frequently move between different indoor and outdoor environments, individuals are subjected to numerous different temperature changes. In some instances, an individual may be confined to an area immediately adjacent a draft, such as airflow from an air conditioning vent outlet or the like which will subject him or her to extended periods of cold air flow streams which serve to act as a highly efficient heat sink resulting in quickly cooling the core of the individual's body and subjecting him or her to discomfort, lowering the immune system and rendering the individual susceptible to catching a cold or the like.

The challenges in selecting clothing to provide the necessary warmth at, for instance, a social or sporting events or the like where temperatures might change from time to time requires advanced planning and oftentimes involves the inconvenience of carrying a backpack, fannie pack or the like for additional thermal insulation, such as a sweater, jacket, or sometimes even a neck scarf. This reality, however, involves substantial inconvenience in that to carry a tote bag or the like serves to occupy the users' hands and subjects him or her to the challenge of finding a location to store the tote bag until access is required for removal of a sweater, neck scarf or the like, and then to maintain possession of the bag until such time as the warming garment is to be returned to storage within the bag. In some social circles, neck scarves have been accepted for use to hang about the user's neck and to be sometimes knotted at the user's throat to maintain snug contact around the user's neck to minimize the heat transfer resulting from lower temperature breezes and the like impinging directly on the user's neck. The fact remains that the wearer often desires to remove the scarf during warmer periods of the day or when in a heated building, thus presenting the inconvenience of carrying the scarf in the user's hands or possibly even folding the scarf up to be stored in a large pocket of an overcoat or the like.

It has been proposed to construct a long scarf with multiple colors reflecting team colors and the like and also with fasteners for fastening in adjustable relationship about a user's neck to thus address the problems with bulkiness achieved by knotting the scarf in place. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Patent No. 3,286,276 to Calisch. Such devices, while adding appeal for sports fans and the like desiring to display team loyalty by the coloration of the scarves as proposed, still leave the wearer with the prospect of storing the scarf on his or her neck during the entire sports outing or the like and exhibiting a bulkiness which is not always desirable for certain social settings, such as in dining at a more upscale restaurant or the like.

In an effort to address the fashion issues, it has been proposed to construct a neckpiece and matching wristbands of animal furs to complement the wearer's clothing. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Patent No. 3,479,667 to Mehl. These neckpieces typically have considerable bulk rendering them unacceptable for storage in small compact areas such as within a moderately sized purse or wearer's jacket pocket and are not always accepted in all social circles or as being worn by males.

It has been recognized that the appeal for conventional scarves is limited because of their length and bulk and the fact that they sometimes stretch nonuniformly. Thus, is has been proposed to construct a neckpiece of woven cloth for securement in adjustable relationship about a wearer's neck. A device of this type is shown in U.S. Patent No.

4,654,897 to Rosaen. While serving to eliminate the uneven stretch associated with knit materials and deleting the long tails typically associated with neck scarves, such devices suffer the shortcoming that they do not closely fit the contour of the wearer's neck and fail to afford a stylish appearance while presenting an effective thermal barrier to release or transfer of heat there across when exposed to lower temperature air currents as on a windy day at an outdoor sports event.

Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate, by way of example, the features of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a neckpiece embodied in the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a back view of the neckpiece shown in FIG 1;

FIG. 3 is a respective view of the neckpiece shown in FIG 1, formed in a partial circle and of enlarged scale;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view depicting the neckpiece embracing a wearer's neck; and

FIG. 5 is a top plan view, in enlarged scale, depicting the knit pattern incorporated in the neckpiece shown in FIG. 1, in enlarged scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The neckpiece of the present invention includes, generally, a band 11 configured and sized to closely fit the contours of a wearer's neck 13. The band 11 is of knit construction to thus form loose loops for high flexibility and softeners and having interstices therebetween for trapping air to act as a thermal insulator. One extremity of the band mounts fasteners 15 of hook construction and the opposite extremity mounts fasteners 17 of pile construction for releasably connecting with the fasteners 15 at selected space locations for fitting the circumference of a wearer's neck.

Knit material consists of consecutive loops, called stitches. As each row progresses during the manufacturing step, a new loop is pulled through an existing loop. The active stitches are held on a needle until another loop can be passed through them. The yarn utilized in the knitting process forms symmetric loops or bights forming a meandering path or course above and below the mean path of the yarn. It is a characteristic of the meandering loops that they can be easily stretched in different directions to thereby give more elasticity than woven fabrics; depending on the yarn and knitting pattern, as much as 500%. Hence, by comparison, woven garments stretch mainly in one direction along the bias and are then very inelastic, unless woven from highly elastic material such as

Spandex. The elasticity of the woven fabric allows it follow the body's curvature closely without the necessity of incorporating darts, flares, gussets, and gores, which are typically required for contoured woven material. The yarn thickness or weight is a significant factor in determining the gauge, i.e., how many stitches and rows are required to cover a given area of a given stitch pattern. Yarns are grouped by thickness into six categories: superfine, fine, light, medium, bulky, and superbulky; quantitatively, thickness is measured by the number of warps per inch (WPI). The related weight per unit length is usually measured in tex or dernier.

A yarn's usefulness for a knitting project is judged by several factors, such as its loft (ability to trap air), its resilience (elasticity under tension), its washability and color fastness, its hand (its feel, particularly softness versus scratchiness), its durability against abrasion, its resistance to pilling, its hairiness (fuzziness), its tendency to twist or untwist, its overall weight and drape, its blocking and felting qualities, its comfort (breathability, moisture absorption, wicking properties) and its look. For my application, I propose a soft, medium to high loft with a medium hairiness and medium weight.

Yarn is generally divided into animal fibers, plant and synthetic fibers. Animal fibers generally long hairs of animals such a sheep (wool), goat (angora or cashmere), rabbit (angora), silk, llama, alpaca, or even camel or yak. Wool is generally favored chiefly because of its superior elasticity and warmth. I have selected wool yarn and a blend of wool and other fibers for my preferred embodiment.

In constructing the neckpiece of the present invention, the band 11 may be constructed of a wool knot material 21 with medium stitch or loops to provide a highly flexible, stretchable insulting barrier. The loop fastener 17 may be adhered along the opposite edges of the band 11 spaced apart about ¼ inch to 3/8 inches for releasably fastening with the hook fasteners 15.

The knit is constructed to, when the opposite extremities are subjected to a five pound pull, elongate 25% of the total relaxed length. The band 11 is preferably between 2" and 4" wide and between 12" and 17" long preferably about 15 inches long, and may take other widths and lengths depending on the size of the wearer's neck. The band 11 may be provided in a number of different colors or combination of colors to complement the attire of the wearer.

The knit neckpiece of the present invention may thus, for instance, be wrapped about a wearer's neck, stretched to conform to the contours of the neck and secured at the properly adjusted length, tucked under an open collar shirt to thereby simulating the appearance of a turtle neck sweater under the shit preferably about 15" inches long.

Thus, when the user embarks on an outing to, for instance, an athletic event, restaurant, or other entertainment venue, he or she may roll up or fold the neckpiece of the present invention to be stored in his or her pocket or purse or the like. Accordingly, the neckpiece may be carried in an unobtrusive manner and on a mild day or evening, may not be utilized.

On a cooler or more inclement evening or possibly later in the same evening, however, the wearer will have the option of withdrawing the neckpiece from his or her pocket or purse and wrapping it about his or her neck, possibly with the lower edge tucked under the collar and to be drawn snug. As the neckpiece is drawn snug, the knit will stretch and flax to closely follow what is typically a curved vertical contour of the wearer's neck and will stretch over his or her Adam's apple to exhibit a compact, refined and polished appearance.

As the wearer is then exposed to, for instance, an air conditioner draft and/or breeze, the neckpiece will serve as a thermal barrier to transfer of heat from the wearer's neck to the passing air, thereby defeating what is normally recognized as a high coefficient of heat transfer due to air passing in direct heat exchange relationship with the person's skin, particularly when the rate of heat transfer is accelerated by a moist surface which might result from humid weather or perspiration.

Should the temperature rise slightly, the wearer has the option of loosening the neckpiece by detaching the fasteners 15 and 17 from one another and reattaching to provide for a looser fit.

The efficiency of the thermal barrier is enhanced by the interstices formed within and between the loops and the knit pattern 21 which serves to trap stagnant air therein to act as a highly efficient thermal insulator.

Consequently, the wearer may enjoy the comfort and ascetic appearance of a relatively soft, stretchable, flexible neckpiece held in close fit relationship with his or her neck even when flexed, turned or expanded or contracted with breathing and the like.

Claims

I Claim:

1. A thermally insolated neckpiece comprising :

an elongated knit neck band constructed of knit soft yarn formed with air trapping interstices, constructed to be formed in a circle of selected different diameters to wrap about , and provide a snug fit to a wearer's neck and to, when so wrapped , leave overlapping extremities;

releasable fasteners on the respective extremities for releasable fastening together to hold the band in one of the selected diameters fitted snugly against the neck.

2. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein:

the yarn is formed from animal hair.

3. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein:

the yarn is formed from wool.

4. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein;

the yarn is of medium thickness.

5. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein:

the yarn is hairy.

6. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein:

the yarn is constructed of an elasticity and the knit stitch are constructed to produce a longitudinal elongation of at least 25% with stretch forces of 5 pounds is applied to the extremities.

7. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein:

the yarn is knitted into stockinette.

8. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein:

the band is at least 12 inches long.

9. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein:

the band is at least 2 inches wide.

10. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein:

the band is substantially 14 inches long.

11. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein:

the band is substantially 4 inches wide.

12. The thermally insolated neckpiece of claim 1 wherein:

the fasteners include loop and pile patches attached to the band.

13. A thermally insolated neckpiece comprising:

an elongated neck band constructed of knitted, soft, elastic yarn formed from animal hair and constructed with loops formed with air trapping interstices and having a length of between 12 and 14 inches and a width of between 2 and 4 inches and so constructed as to upon the application of 5 pounds of stretch forces to the opposite extremities, stretch least 25%; hook and pile fasteners mounted on the opposite extremities of the band fastened together with the band forming selected different diameters whereby the user may fit the band about his or her neck to stretch the band to form a snug fit on the wearer's neck and releasably fastened the extremities together to maintain the snug fit.

14. The neckpiece of claim 13 wherein:

the yarn is constructed of sheep's wool.