US20180085655A1 - Cushion backed sports shirt - Google Patents

Abstract

A shirt having a pocket on the rear, and a cushion insertible into the pocket. The pocket may account for half of the height of the shirt, and forty-five to fifty percent of the width of the shirt. The pocket may have a flap covering an opening of the pocket. The cushion may be made from open or closed cell synthetic foam, and may include a flexible covering having an air bleed hole to accommodate compression and expansion of the synthetic foam.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS
• This application claims priority in accordance with 37 CF.R. 1.19(e) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/400,143 filed for CUSHION BACKED SPORTS SHIRT filed Sep. 27, 2016 which is included herein in its entirety by reference.
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
• The present disclosure relates to protective apparel, and more particularly, to a shirt providing a protective cushion over the back area.
BACKGROUND
• People who engage in outdoor activities such as running may engage in ancillary activities such as calisthenics before or after the main activity. A distance runner often finds himself or herself far from indoor facilities when wanting to perform calisthenics and other ancillary activities. It frequently becomes necessary then to engage in an ancillary activities on surfaces not intended to accommodate such activities, such as asphalt, concrete, gravel, and exposed soil. Because many activities such as calisthenics require lying on an environmental surface, ordinary running apparel will not protect the body from dirt, injury, and other hazards which arise from contact with the environmental surface.
• There exists a need for protection, particularly along the back of the body, from contact with hard environmental surfaces.
SUMMARY
• The disclosed concepts address the above stated situation by providing a shirt adapted to receive a cushion protecting the back. The shirt includes a pocket into which the cushion may be inserted and preferably, removed. The pocket may have an overhanging panel to prevent inadvertent loss of the cushion.
• The cushion is configured and located on the shirt to cover over a third of the surface area of the back between the neck and the waist of the user.
• It is an object to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof by apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable, and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
• These and other objects will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• Various objects, features, and attendant advantages of the disclosed concepts will become more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:
• FIG. 1 is a rear view of a protective shirt as it would be if laid flat against a flat environmental surface (not shown), according to at least one aspect of the disclosure; and
• FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cushion used with the protective shirt ofFIG. 1, shown partially broken away to reveal internal detail.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• Referring first toFIG. 1, according to at least one aspect of the disclosure, there is shown aprotective shirt100 for protecting a back of a body of a wearer (not shown).Protective shirt100 may comprise atorso section102 including a front panel104 for covering a chest and an abdomen of the wearer, arear panel106 connected to front panel104 along sides of the body of the wearer, a neck opening108 dimensioned and configured to pass a head of the wearer therethrough, a first arm opening110 located at one of the sides, and an opposed second arm opening112 at another one of the sides. First arm opening110 andsecond arm opening112 are dimensioned and configured to pass (respectfully) a right arm and a left arm of the wearer therethrough. Awaist opening114 is dimensioned and configured to pass a waist of the wearer therethrough.
• Unless otherwise indicated, the terms “first”, “second”, etc., are used herein merely as labels, and are not intended to impose ordinal, positional, or hierarchical requirements on the times to which these terms refer. Moreover, reference to, e.g., a “second” item does not either require or preclude the existence of, e.g., a “first” or lower-numbered item, and/or, e.g., a “third” or higher-numbered item.
• It should be noted at this point that orientational terms such as front, rear, height, and width refer to the subject drawing as viewed by an observer. The drawing figures depict their subject matter in orientations of normal use, which could obviously change with changes in body posture and position. Therefore, orientational terms must be understood to provide semantic basis for purposes of description only, and do not imply that their subject matter can be used only in one position.
• Protective shirt100 includes apocket116 onrear panel106 oftorso section102. Pocket116 includes an access opening118 for insertion of a cushion120 (FIG. 2) and joined torear panel106 along aperiphery122 ofpocket116 except at access opening118. Pocket116 may cover at least one third of the area ofrear panel106 whentorso section102 is laid flat withrear panel106 overlying front panel104. Whenprotective shirt100 is laid flat withrear panel106 overlying front panel104, respective right andleft side edges124,126 oftorso section102 demarcate right and left bounds oftorso section102. Whenprotective shirt100 is donned, right andleft side edges124,126 would extend along the right and left sides of the torso of the wearer.
• In this respect, and also with respect to neck opening108 and first andsecond arm openings110,112,protective shirt100 may be similar to an ordinary Tee shirt (not shown).
• Cushion120 may be dimensioned and configured to be received inpocket116 by insertion through access opening118 in close cooperation withpocket116. Access opening118 may face the same direction as neck opening108.
• Pocket116 may be a parallelepiped in plan view (i.e., as shown inFIG. 1) whenprotective shirt100 is laid flat withrear panel106 overlying front panel104.
• Protective shirt100 may further comprise aflap128 covering access opening118.
• Pocket116 may be rectangular in plan view whenprotective shirt100 is laid flat withrear panel106 overlying the front panel104.Flap128 covering access opening118 may be joined to pocket116 along aright edge130 offlap128, along atop edge132 offlap128, whereintop edge132 faces the same direction as neck opening108 oftorso section102, and along aleft edge134 offlap128, and is unjoined to pocket128 along abottom edge136 offlap128.
• Pocket128 may have aheight138 extending fromneck opening108 to waist opening114 whentorso section102 is laid flat withrear panel106 overlying front panel104.Flap128 may have aheight140 parallel toheight138 ofpocket128 in a range of fifteen to twenty-five percent ofheight138 ofpocket128.
• Referring now toFIG. 2,cushion120 may comprises asynthetic foam142 which is at least one of an open cell foam and a closed cell foam. Cushion120 may further comprises aflexible covering144 oversynthetic foam142.Flexible covering144 may have an air bleedhole146 to accommodate expulsion and return of air whencushion120 is compressed and expanded.
• Again referring toFIG. 1,torso section102 may have aheight148 extending fromneck opening108 to waist opening114 whentorso section102 is laid flat withrear panel106 overlying front panel104.Pocket116 may haveheight138 parallel toheight148 oftorso section102 abouthalf height148 oftorso section102.Height138 is parallel toheight148 whencushion120 is installed inpocket116.
• Torsosection102 has awidth152 extending fromright edge124 ofrear panel106 toleft edge126 ofrear panel106 whentorso section102 is laid flat withrear panel106 overlying front panel104.Pocket116 may have awidth154 parallel towidth152 oftorso section102 in a range of forty-five to fifty percent ofwidth152 oftorso section102.
• Cushion120 may have awidth156 parallel towidth152 oftorso section102 and in a range of forty to forty-five percent ofwidth152 oftorso section102.
• The above relationships may be realized in an exemplary embodiment ofprotective shirt100 sized for a typical adult, whereinheight148 oftorso section102 is about thirty inches;width152 oftorso section102 is about twenty-two inches;height138 ofpocket116 is about fourteen inches;width154 ofpocket116 is about ten to eleven inches withcushion120 installed therein;width156 ofcushion120 is nine to ten inches; andheight158 ofcushion120 is about fourteen inches.Thickness160 ofcushion120 may be about one and one half inches.Top edge132 offlap128 may have aspacing150 from neck opening108 of about six inches.
• Because of the close cooperation betweenpocket116 andcushion120 with the latter installed in the former,height138 ofpocket116 is just greater thanheight158 ofcushion120.
• Bottom edge164 oftorso section102 may have aspacing162 topocket116 of about ten inches.
• The above dimensions refer to the spread condition ofprotective shirt100 shown inFIG. 1, shown as if laid flat, and withcushion120 installed inpocket116.
• Of course,protective shirt100 may be made to fit body sizes other than that of an average adult.
• While the disclosed concepts have been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred implementation, it is to be understood that the disclosed concepts are not to be limited to the disclosed arrangements, but are intended to cover various arrangements which are included within the spirit and scope of the broadest possible interpretation of the appended claims so as to encompass all modifications and equivalent arrangements which are possible.

Claims (13)

I claim:

1. A protective shirt for protecting a back of a body of a wearer, comprising:

a torso section including

a front panel for covering a chest and an abdomen of the wearer,

a rear panel connected to the front panel along sides of the body of the wearer,

a neck opening dimensioned and configured to pass a head of the wearer therethrough,

a first arm opening located at one of the sides and an opposed second arm opening at another one of the sides, the first arm opening and the second arm opening dimensioned and configured to pass respectfully a right arm and a left arm of the wearer therethrough,

a waist opening dimensioned and configured to pass a waist of the wearer therethrough, and

a pocket on the rear panel of the torso section, the pocket including an access opening for insertion of a cushion and joined to the rear panel along a periphery of the pocket except at the access opening, the pocket covering at least one third of the area of the rear panel when the torso section is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel; and

a cushion dimensioned and configured to be received in the pocket by insertion through the access opening in close cooperation with the pocket.

2. The protective shirt ofclaim 1, wherein the access opening faces the same direction as the neck opening.

3. The protective shirt ofclaim 1, wherein the pocket is a parallelepiped in plan view when the protective shirt is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel.

4. The protective shirt ofclaim 3, further comprising a flap covering the access opening.

5. The protective shirt ofclaim 4, wherein the pocket is rectangular in plan view when the protective shirt is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel, and the flap covering the access opening is joined to the pocket along a right edge of the flap, along a top edge of the flap, wherein the top edge faces the same direction as the neck opening of the torso section, and along a left edge of the flap, and is unjoined to the pocket along a bottom edge of the flap.

6. The protective shirt ofclaim 5, wherein the pocket has a height extending from the neck opening to the waist opening when the torso section is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel, and the flap has a height parallel to the height of the pocket in a range of fifteen to twenty-five percent of the height of the pocket.

7. The protective shirt ofclaim 1, wherein the cushion comprises a synthetic foam which is at least one of an open cell foam and a closed cell foam.

8. The protective shirt ofclaim 7, wherein the cushion further comprises a flexible covering over the synthetic foam.

9. The protective shirt ofclaim 8, wherein the flexible covering has an air bleed hole to accommodate expulsion and return of air when the cushion is compressed and expanded.

10. The protective shirt ofclaim 1, wherein the torso section has a height extending from the neck opening to the waist opening when the torso section is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel, and the pocket has a height parallel to the height of the torso section about half the height of the torso section.

11. The protective shirt ofclaim 10, wherein the cushion has a height parallel to the height of the torso section and in a range of forty to fifty percent of the height of the torso section.

12. The protective shirt ofclaim 1, wherein the torso section has a width extending from a right edge of the rear panel to a left edge of the rear panel when the torso section is laid flat with the rear panel overlying the front panel, and the pocket has a width parallel to the width of the torso section in a range of forty-five to fifty percent of the width of the torso section.

13. The protective shirt ofclaim 12, wherein the cushion has a width parallel to the width of the torso section and in a range of forty to forty-five percent of the width of the torso section.

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