Adjustable Sun Hat

Various types of hats and assorted head gear have heretofore been used by countless numbers of individuals to protect themselves from the sun. Typically such devices are quite large and cumbersome and have limited flexibility. To adjust the hat to a change in the orientation of the person with respect to the sun's rays, the hat must be tilted on the wearer's head and this can only be done to a limited extent. Some devices such as that taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,585,643, do include means for adjusting the orientation of the hat on the wearer's head, however, the means used therein is still somewhat limited due to the necessity of the hat being anchored to the wearer's hair and, as with conventional sun hats, it is quite cumbersome. Additionally, a sun hat should not only be highly flexible so that it can be readily adjusted to block the sun regardless of the relative positioning of the sun with respect to the wearer, but it should be attractive as well. Accordingly, the present invention provides a sun hat which is highly flexible with respect to its angular orientation on the wearer's head, is readily collapsible for carrying and also quite attractive.

Briefly, the present invention comprises a sun hat having a collapsible shade providing a body portion and upper band which supports the body portion and a chin and headband assembly which is adapted to fit about the wearer's head and is secured to the support band. The body portion of the hat is adjustably mounted on the support band which in turn is pivotally secured to the chin and headband assembly such that the body portion of the hat can be positioned in any desired angular orientation on the wearer's head to shield the wearer from the sun regardless of the inclination of the sun to the wearer.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a readily adjustable sun hat which can be pivoted to any desired position on the wearer's head to shield the wearer from the sun's rays regardless of the inclination of the sun to the wearer.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a sun hat which is both readily adjustable on the wearer's head and easily collapsible to facilitate carrying.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a decorative sun hat for shielding the wearer from the rays of the sun.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the sun hat being worn by a person in the upright position.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the sun hat being worn by a person in a reclining position.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the sun hat illustrating the various components thereof.

FIG. 4 is a sectional frontal view of the sun hat.

FIG. 5 is a sectional side view of the sun hat illustrating the pivotal motion of the chin and head band assembly in phantom lines.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the sun hat 10 is comprised of a collapsible body portion 12, an upper support band 14 and a head and chin band assembly 16 which is adapted to fit about the wearer's head and chin as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. The body portion of the hat can be constructed of any number of shape-retaining pliable materials or combinations thereof to render the body portion collapsible for carrying. By way of example, the body portion illustrated in the drawings could be constructed of an inner layer of pliable material 18 such as a polymeric foam material and an outer layer of polymeric sheet material 20 to provide a decorative appearance to the body portion. To facilitate collapsing of the body portion after removing the same from the head and chin band assembly 16, the body portion is open along a radius 22 thereof (see FIG. 3) and a fastening member 24 such as a zipper is disposed along the opening for joining the open ends to define a conically shaped body portion. A pair of strips of material 26 and 28 are sandwiched between the inner and outer layers of the body portion adjacent said opening for supporting the zipper or other fastening means.

The body portion 12 of sun hat 10 is provided with a pair of brackets 30 and 32 disposed on the underside thereof on either side of a decorative raised center portion 36. These brackets can be easily formed by slitting the hat at locations 31 and folding under portions of the hat adjacent each side of the slits for forming small flaps which are then in turn provided with slits to define the brackets. With this construction, the brackets are integral with the body portion of the sun hat. Of course, separate brackets could also be used which could be affixed to the underside of the body portion in any desired manner. The upper support band 14 extends through brackets 30 and 32 as best seen in FIG. 4 so that the body portion 12 of the sun hat can slide along band 14.

The head and chin band assembly 16 is comprised of a flexible chin band 40 and a pair of upper headbands 44 and 46, all of which are preferably constructed of a soft, lightweight plastic material. The upper support band 14 is pivotally secured at its lower extended ends to the head and chin band assembly 16 by suitable fastening members 48 and 50 which extend through apertures 48' and 50' in the lower end of support band 14 and aligned apertures 48" and 50" in the head and chin band assembly 16 and allow the head and chin band assembly to pivot with respect to the upper support band 14 about a first axis running through members 48 and 50. The headbands 44 and 46 extend over the wearer's head and are preferably integrally joined at ends 52 and 54 thereof with the chin band 40 at 56. The other ends 58 and 60 of the headbands are preferably integrally joined at 62 with a strap member 64 extending therefrom and defining a portion of the chin band in a manner to be described. Chin band 40 is provided with a plurality of apertures 66 therein which are adapted to receive protuberance 68 extending from strap 64 to adjustably secure the chin strap about the wearer's chin so that the head and chin band assembly 16 is adjustable to fit a wide range of wearer's head sizes.

The aforesaid chin and headband assembly provides a high degree of flexibility in the sun hat in that the body portion 12 can be slid to either side of the wearer's head by virtue of the slidable mounting of the body portion 12 of the sun hat on the upper support band 14 and can be pivoted forwardly and rearwardly on the wearer's head by virtue of the upper support band 14 being pivotally secured to the chin and headband assembly 16 as illustrated in phantom lines in FIG. 5. Thus the flexibility in the sun hat 10 stems from the body portion of the hat being pivotally moveable about a first axis running through the fastening members 48 and 50 and, as the body portion of 12 of the sun hat is slided along the support band 14, it is rotatably moved about a second axis which is perpendicularly disposed with respect to the aforesaid first axis running through the fastening members 48 and 50. In addition to such flexibility which allows the wearer to position the body portion of the hat in any desired angular orientation on his head regardless of his body position, the sun hat 10 can be easily disassembled for carrying by simply sliding the upper support band 14 through brackets 30 and 32 and undoing the zipper or other fastening member 24. The body portion 12 of the hat can then be easily rolled into a compact tubular configuration for carrying.

Various changes and modifications may be made in carrying out the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. Insofar as these changes and modifications are within the purview of the appended claims they are to be considered as part of the present invention.