US20030154534A1

US20030154534A1 - Article of clothing including at least one through hole

Info

Publication number: US20030154534A1
Application number: US10/368,182
Authority: US
Inventors: John Miller; David Parrish; Kevin Ross
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-02-19
Filing date: 2003-02-18
Publication date: 2003-08-21

Abstract

The present invention provides a line of clothing, such as, but not limited to, shirts, blouses, pants, shorts, or the like having at least one through-hole on the exterior surface of the garment. This will provide a final product which is designed and configured to adequately and efficiently receive and hold a plurality of items, including sunglasses, eyeglasses, pens and pencils and the like for ready access by the wearer. The interior of the garment is comprised of at least one additional piece of fabric in cooperation with the through-hole to receive and hold sunglasses, pens and the like. The piece of fabric can be permanently or removably secured to the article of clothing in various embodiments.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a novel and unique article of clothing, such as, but not limited to, shirts, pants, blouses, shorts or the like, which include at least one through hole to adequately and efficiently receive and hold a plurality of items, such as sunglasses, eyeglasses, pens and the like.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Numerous devices have been developed in the clothing industry to hold sunglasses or eyeglasses for the wearer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,377 issued to Ferdi discloses a garment having an integral hanger for eyeglasses wherein a strip of fabric is fastened at both ends to the front of the garment which forms an eyeglass hanger strip.

Yet another example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,074 wherein disclosed is an article holding loop comprised of an elongated element having two ends, each of which is attached to the garment forming a loop. This invention provides for the loop to be formed with the collar, a pocket, seam or on a surface of the garment.

A final example can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,928 issued to Hyung-Seob wherein disclosed is a device for hanging spectacles on a garment. The spectacle hanging means is formed at an opening within the neck, breast, pocket, or button down opening of the arm. The hanging means holds an arm of the spectacle, thus suspending the eyeglasses on the garment.

However, none of these prior efforts are designed and configured to provide the benefits intended with the present invention. Accordingly, it is seen that there is a need for a novel and unique garment which will adequately and efficiently receive and hold a plurality of items. For these reasons it is seen that the previous efforts do not provide the benefits intended with the previous invention, such as providing a line of clothing including at least one through hole for adequately and efficiently receiving and holding a plurality of items, such as for example a pair of sunglasses. Additionally, prior techniques do not suggest the present inventive combination of component elements as disclosed herein. As will be seen, the present invention achieves its intended purposes, objectives and advantages, by accomplishing the needs as identified above, through a new, useful and unobvious combination of component elements, which are simple to use, with the utilization of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, assemble, test and by employing only readily available materials.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a line of clothing, such as, but not limited to, shirts, blouses, pants, shorts, or the like having at least one through-hole on the exterior surface of the garment. This will provide a final product which is designed and configured to adequately and efficiently receive and hold a plurality of items, including sunglasses, eyeglasses, pens and pencils and the like for ready access by the wearer.

The interior of the garment is comprised of at least one additional piece of fabric comprised of top, bottom and two sides, which extends vertically along a line directly below and in cooperation with the through-hole on the exterior side of the garment to receive and hold sunglasses, pens and the like. The piece of fabric or a plurality of through-holes in alternative embodiments can be permanently secured to the article of clothing, or in an optional embodiment may be removably secured to the article of clothing via a securing means such as “hook and loop” fastener such as the VELCRO® brand, snaps or the like.

The through-holes of the present invention located on the exterior of the garment, as well as the additional pieces of fabric located on the interior surface of the garment can be any size, shape or dimension and is designed and configured to receive and hold a plurality of items such as the temple of a pair of sunglasses, or a pen, cigarette, money or the like for ready access by the wearer.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide for a line of clothing which will overcome the deficiencies, shortcomings, and drawbacks of prior novelty clothing apparel by providing a line of clothing specifically designed to receive and hold a plurality of items.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a through-hole which will receive and hold a plurality of items for ready access by the wearer.

Yet another object of the present invention, to be specifically enumerated herein, is to provide a line of clothing with at least one through-hole in accordance with the preceding objects and which will conform to conventional forms of manufacture, be of simple construction and easy to use so as to provide an article of clothing that would be economically feasible, long lasting and a definite fashion need, by providing an adequate means of storage of a plurality of items.

Although there have been many items related to clothing apparel, none of the previous inventions have disclosed this means of adequately and efficiently receiving and holding a plurality of items. The present invention meets the requirements of a simplified design, low initial cost, low operating cost, ease of installation and maintainability, and minimal amount of training to successfully employ the invention.

The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the present invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and application of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the detailed description of the preferred embodiments in addition to the scope of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front planar view illustrating an article of the inventive clothing including a through-hole of the present invention. [0016]
FIG. 2 is a partial interior view of the inventive clothing illustrating the piece of fabric which acts in cooperation with the through-hole. [0017]
FIG. 3[0018] a is a detailed front view of the piece of fabric located on the interior of the garment, with the bottom open.
FIG. 3[0019] b is a detailed view of the piece of fabric located on the interior of the garment, with the bottom sewn closed.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

As seen in the drawings, in particular to FIGS. [0020] 1-3 b there is shown an article of clothing 10 according to the present invention. The article includes a garment body 12 having at least one through-hole 14. Although the garment body 12 illustrated in the figures is a shirt, it should be noted that other articles of clothing can be used in the invention, such as but not limited to pants, shorts, blouses or the like.
As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the [0021] garment 12 includes an interior surface 16, illustrated in FIG. 2, and an exterior surface 18. The interior surface 16 will face the wearer. Extending through the exterior surface 18 of the garment 12 is at least one through-hole 14, illustrated and labeled in FIGS. 1 and 2. This through-hole 14 may be any size, shape or dimension but is preferably configured to receive a plurality of items such as the temple of a pair of sunglasses, eyeglasses, or the like. In addition, the through-hole 14 of the present invention may be designed and configured to receive any type of writing instrument, including but not limited to pens, pencils, or the like. Also, the through-hole 14 of the present invention is designed and configured to provide for the placement of a plurality of golf tees, money and cigars, cigarettes and numerous other items.
Secured to the [0022] interior surface 16 of the garment 12 is at least one additional piece of fabric 24, having a top 20 and bottom 32, and two sides 34 which extends vertically along a line in cooperation with and directly below the through-hole 14 accessed on the exterior surface 18 of the garment 12. The bottom 32 of the piece of fabric 24 may be open or sewed closed. Thus, the additional piece of fabric 24 provides for location and positioning along a vertical line in cooperation with the through-hole 14. This piece of fabric 24 is designed and configured to receive an item such as a temple of a pair of sunglasses, eyeglasses or the like via the outer through-hole 14.
The piece of [0023] fabric 24 can be either permanently secured via a permanent securing means to the garment 12 as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, or can be removably secured to the garment 12 via removably securing means.
Permanent securing means such as threaded stitching may be used for permanently securing the piece of [0024] fabric 24 to the garment 12 as illustrated in FIG. 3b. Optionally, the permanent attachment can also include other permanent attaching means, such as adhesives or the like.
Alternatively, removable securing means can include any conventional removable attaching means such as snaps, zippers, or, the use of a “hook-and-loop” fastener such as that known as VELCRO®. In an alternative embodiment, the hook-and-loop fastener will be located on an inner surface of the piece of [0025] fabric 24. Secured to the interior surface 16 of the garment 12, around the vertical line, below the through-hole 14 is the cooperating hook-and-loop fastener element. The-hook and-loop fastener will be arranged in proximity to the edge of the piece of fabric 24. In this design and configuration, the piece of fabric 24 will be removably secured to the garment 12 via the securing means.
The piece of [0026] fabric 24 or a plurality thereof, in cooperation with the through-hole 14 can be any size, shape or configuration, so as to adequately accommodate a plurality of items such as the temple of a pair of sunglasses, or a pen or the like.
This will provide for an overall product which can be customized to the wearer's desires and needs. The through-hole opening(s) [0027] 14 can easily be reconfigured in size and shape.
The present invention provides a need and an acceptance in the fashion industry. The inventive clothing is also designed and configured to be washable, providing a final product which is user friendly and durable. While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to an embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. [0028]

Claims

I claim:

1. An article of clothing providing for convenient retention of elongated devices such as eyeglasses, comprising:

a garment body having a outside and inside surface;

a through-hole in the garment body; and

a fabric element secured to the inside surface and positioned proximate the through-hole to received objects projected through the through-hole.

2. An article of clothing, according to claim 1, wherein:

the fabric element is sized and configured to receive a spectacle temple element.

3. An article of clothing, according to claim 2, wherein;

the fabric element is removably secured to the inside surface.

4. An article of clothing, according to claim 2, wherein:

the fabric element has an open top end and closed bottom end.

5. An article of clothing, according to claim 4, wherein:

the garment and fabric element are formed of washable material.

6. An article of clothing, according to claim 3, wherein:

the fabric element is secured to the inside surface by a hook-and-loop fastener.

7. An article of clothing, according to claim 2, wherein:

the fabric element includes an open top end and open bottom end.

8. In an article of clothing having an interior and exterior surface, an improvement comprising:

a through-hole connecting the exterior and interior surfaces; and

a fabric element secured to the interior surface and configured to receive objects passing through the through-hole.