US2904052A - Elastic hat retaining device - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 15, 1959 e. GEIGER 2,904,052

ELASTIC HAT RETAINING DEVICE Filed July 18, 1957 1NVENTOR. Gerald L. Gelger ATTORNEY I 2,904,052 ELASTIC HAT RETAINING DEVICE Gerald L. Geiger, Washington, D.C.

Application July 18, 1957, Serial No. 672,741 4 Claims. (Cl. 132- 57) This invention relates to a detachable elastic retaining device for mens hats.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a hat retaining device for use upon mens hats to prevent them from being accidentally blown off the head of the wearer during windy and stormy weather.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a hat retaining device that can be detachably attached to the sweat band of the hat by simply sliding the attaching pieces thereof over the edge of the sweat band, one device at each side of the hat, and the attaching piece carrying an elastic band that can be pulled down over the ear lobes to hold the hat in place upon the head.

It is another object of the invention to provide an elastic hat retaining device which has a sweat band attaching piece and an elastic band in which the attaching piece has sufficient length to extend downwardly over the inner face of the sweat band to the full depth thereof and so as to engage with the stitching that holds the sweat band withinthe hat thereby to support the attaching piece and the piece has an exterior side which is shorter than the interior side and to which an elastic band is attached and where the elastic when not in use will be normally held above the lower edge of the sweat band and within the hat so that quick and ready access can be had to the elastic band to pull it downwardly over car when needed.

It is still another object of the invention to provide an elastic hat retaining device adapted to be connected to the sweat band of a hat in which the attaching piece can be reversed upon the sweat band to place the elastic band behind the sweat band when they are not needed forimmediate use and to eliminate the interference with the normal use of the hat.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an elastic hat retaining device which can be simply formed as by folding of sheet plastic material, metal or the like by a continuous die process, cutting the pieces therefrom, and the elastic bandassembled upon the attaching piece by a'siniple operation .of forcing the elastic band into a through opening on the attaching piece so as to depend therefrom and to provide for a spacing of the elastic along the side of the sweat band and to provide for connection of the band to the hat forwardly and rearwardly of the ear and so that it can be held tightly thereover, and wherein if a different adjustment of the band. upon the ear is desired to have the elastic band spaced less on the hat the elastic band can be inserted within parallel slits spaced inwardly from the opposite ends of the piece, and the band extended through only a portion of its opening in the attaching piece and perhaps afiford a more comfortable connection of the elastic ban t the Other objects of the invention are to provide an elastic hat retaining device, having the above objects in mind,

winch .is of simple construction, has a minimum number of parts, inexpensive to manufacture, suitable as a premium item, unharmful to the ear, adaptable for all size hats, of pleasing apparatus, effective and eflicient in use.

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For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is an illustrative view showing the elastic band of the device pulled down from the hat and extended over the ear of the wearer,

Fig. 2 is a perspective and collective View of the sweat band attaching piece and of the elastic band,

Fig. 3 is a front face elevational View of one of the retaining devices mounted on the sweat band of a hat with the elastic band withdrawn into the hat,

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 is an elevational view similar to Fig. 3 but with the elastic band stretched downwardly over an ear,

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary perspective'view of a hat with illustration made as to the manner in which the hat retaining device is fastened to the sweat band of the hat, and

Fig. 7 is a perspective view looking into the opening in the bottom of a hat and showing the attaching piece placed on the sweat band so thatthe elastic band lies inside the sweat band and for the purpose of the device being stored.

Referring now to the figures, 10 represents generally the hat retaining device of the present invention that comprises only two par-ts, an attaching piece 11 and an elastic band 12'. The attaching piece 11 is formed preferably ofresilient plastic sheet material that has a straight outer side portion 13 from the loweredge of which there extends inwardly and upwardly a clamp portion 14. The lower edge of the outer side portion 13 is in the form of a bead 15 with the portion 14 extending upwardly from the inner side thereof. The bead 15 affords sufiicient resiliencyto the portion 14 to have clamping action against the outer face of the sweat band when the attachingpiece is applied thereto. The elastic band is assembled upon the attaching piece 11 by extending it over the upper edge of the clamp portion 14 and drawing it down into a through opening 16, afforded by the bead 15. This opening 16 preferably is slightly less in'diameter than the diameter of the elastic band 12 so that'the elastic band cannot readily slip therethrough. If the elastic bandis stretched to place it over the ear, it will be bent sufiicientlyoverthe ends of the bead as indicated at 17 and 18 in Fig. 3 so that it will be further held against slipping when applied to ear 19. i

If it is desired to adapt the band for use upon a smaller ear or to give possibly a better holding effect the band can he slid downwardly through one or both parallel slits 20 and 21 in the clamping portion 14 as illustrated with broken lines 12 in Fig. 5. The upper edge of the clamp portion 14 has serrations 22 so as to better grip the face of sweat band 23 lying within a hat 24 and fixed to the bottom thereof by stitching 25 A bend 26 is provided on the portion 13 and extending therefrom is a rear clamp or clip portion 27 thatis of a length such that its lower edge 27 when the attaching piece is extended over the sweat band 23 will reach the bottom of the band to rest upon the stitching 25 thereof so that the force of the stretched elastic band is transferred directly to the bottom of the hat. This rear portion 27 is resiliently biased to. be urged inwardly against the inner face of the sweat band and toward spring clamp portion 14 so. that the attaching piece will be tightly clamped to'the sweat band and held against sliding movement thereupon. To afford a better gripping action of the attaching piece with the sweat band, the clamp portion '14 is indented at 14' throughout its length to receive with the sweat band an indentation 27" of the rear clamp portion 27 and which will draw the band material against the serrations 22 of the clamp portion 14 to further hold r 3 eat ehi p e ea ain tqu wa d d sp a from the sweat band.

When the hat retaining device is placed upon the sweat band -with theedge 26 resting along the stitching 25 of the sweat band to: the hat, the depending length of the front portion 13 is such that sufiicient space 29 on the front of the hat band 23 is provided to accommodate the released and retracted elastic band 12 without the same appearing upon the headand below the bottom of the hat. When in this position the elastic band ismade readily available to the wearer of the hat so that it can be quickly and easily reached when needed and -to be pulled down over the ear, 7

At times when the retaining device is notneeded the device can be better stored within the hat by reversing it so that the elastic band 12 will lie inside the sweat band 23 as best shown in Fig. 7. The attaching-piece 11 maybe applied to the sweat band for use in the man ner illustrated in Fig. 6 and with the edge 28 of the portion 27 slightly fiared'it will slide readily over the inner face of the sweat band. The attaching piece 11 is preferably formed of sheet plastic material such that the bead .15 and the bend 26 will have suflicient resiliency to afford a clamping action of the clamp portions 14 and 27 upon the opposite faces of the sweat band. The attaching piece can be made by forcing a strip of the sheet material through a shaping die while heated in order that a permanent set can be given to the material. The outer faces of the portions 13 and 27 may bear advertising data. The attaching piece is light in weight and can be readily applied to and stored within the sweat band of the hat and may even have the function of better fitting the hat to the wearer. I

With the holder being applied to each side of the sweat band the hat can be held upon the head in very windy and stormy weather or at least sufiiciently retained. from'blowing off the head to give the wearer sulficient time to get his hand to the hat and prevent its complete removal from the head.

While various changes may be made in the detail construction, it shall be understood that such changes shall be within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the. appended claims.

What is claimedis:

1. A hat retaining device comprising a sweat band attaching piece having an outside portion with a bottom edge folded to provide a through opening and a clamp portion depending from the upper edge adapted to fit over the sweat band and extend downwardly over the inner face thereof, an elastic band extending through the opening in the lower edge of the attaching piece and depending therefrom, said elastic band being adapted to be stretched from the attaching piece when applied to the hat sweat band and downwardly over the ear lobe of the wearer, and an inner clamp portion extending upwardly from the bottom edge of the outside portion and having parallel slits that extend downwardly from its upper edge to the bottom of the outside portion through the bottom of which the elastic band can be slid to locate the elastic band within the opening throughout a short distance thereof whereby the elastic band can be adjusted for a different gripping action upon the ear of the wearer.

2. A hat retaining device comprising a sweat band attaching piece having an outside portion with a bottom edge foldedto provide a through opening and a clamp portion depending from the upper edge adapted to fit over the sweat band and extend downwardly over the inner face thereof, an elastic band' extending through the opening in the lower edge of the attaching piece and depending therefrom, said elastic band being adapted to be stretched fromthe attaching piece when applied to the hat sweat band and downwardly over the ear lobe of the wearer, and an inner clamp portion extending upwardly from the bottom edge of the ontside portion and having parallel slits that extend downwardly from its upper edge to the bottom of the outside portion through the bottom of which the elastic band can be slid to locate the elastic band within the opening throughout a short distance thereof whereby the elastic band can be adjusted for a different gripping action upon the ear of the wearer, and said clamping portion having inner and outer clamp portions resiliently biased toward each otherto provide a clamping action of the portions upon the opposite faces of the sweat band.

3. A hat retaining device comprising a sweat band attaching piece having an outside portion with a bottom edge folded to provide a through opening and a clamp portion depending from the upper edge adapted to fit over the sweat band and extend downwardly over the inner face thereof, an elastic band extending through the opening in the lower edge of the attaching piece and depending therefrom, said elastic band being adapted to be stretched from the attaching piece when applied to the hat sweat band and downwardly over the ear lobe of the wearer, and an inner clamp portion extending upwardly from the bottom edge of the outside portion and having parallel slits that extend downwardly from its upper edge to the bottom of the outside portion through the bottom of which the elastic band can be slid to locate the elastic band within the opening throughout a short distance thereof whereby the elastic band can be adjusted for a dilferent gripping action upon the ear of the wearer,- and said clamping portion having inner and outer clamp portions resiliently biased toward each other to provide a clamping action of the portions upon the opposite faces of the sweat band, said clamping portions having cooperating indentations to provide further gripping action upon the sweat band.

4. A hat retaining device comprising a sweat band attaching piece having an outside portion with a bottom edge folded to provide a through opening and a clamp portion depending from theupper edge adapted to fit over the sweat band and extend downwardly over the inner face thereof, an elastic band extending through the opening in the lower edge of the attaching piece and depending therefrom, said elastic band being adapted to be stretched from the attaching piece when applied to the hat sweat band and downwardly over the earlobe of the wearer, and an inner clamp portion extending upwardly from the bottom edge of the outside portion and having parallelslits that extend downwardly from its upper edge to the bottom of the outside portion through the bottom of which the elastic band can be slid to locate the elastic band within the opening throughout a short distance thereof whereby the elastic band'can be adjusted for a dilferent gripping action upon the ear of the wearer, and said clamping portion having inner and outer clamp portions resiliently biased toward each other to provide a clamping action of the portions upon the opposite faces of the sweat band, said clamping portions having cooperating indentations to provide further gripping action upon the sweat band, and an upwardly extending clamping portion with serrations on the upper edge to engage with the face of the sweat band adjacent to the indentations and to provide further means to prevent the detachment of a holder piece from the sweat band as the hat is applied to the head.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 384,897 Drake June 19, 1888 862,328 Figg Aug. 6, 1907 1,005,591 Bower Oct. 10, 1911 1,601,395 Ishiwata Sept. 28, 1926 1,613,416 Smith Jan. 4, 1927

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