US3077604A - Pocketed jacket construction - Google Patents

Description

.1963 A; v. COLANGELO 3,077,604

POCKETED JACKET con s'rauc'uon Filed Aug 8; 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 G G n n IN VEN TOR. ALBERT V. COLANGELO A TTORNE Y Fqb. 19, 1963 A. v. COLANGELO 3,077,604

POCKETED JACKETCONSTRUCTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 8. 1960 NVENTOR. ALBERT V. COLANGELO BY UZQIQQVH uxczzw ATTORNEY hits i ite The present invention relates to garment constructions and particularly to an outergarrnent such as a coat, jacket or the like provided with pockets of improved convenience and usefulness.

One aspect of the invention is concerned with the specific pocket structure, and another with the relationship of the pocket structure to the adjacent portions of the garment. Both aspects are deemed to be novel in respects hereinafter to be pointed out and claimed, and both contribute to certain new modes of use as will be hereinafter explained.

A specific object of the invention and advantage of the new arrangement of parts is the provision of a pocket in the front side area of a jacket type garment, or-a pair of such pockets symmetrically arranged on opposite sides of the front center line of the garment, which will render the pocket contents more readily accessible than the best prior art constructions of which I am aware and which will enable the wearer-of the garment to reach the contents instantly and unfailingly by natural movements of the arms involving no awkwardness or discomfort and requiring no projection of the elbows laterally out into possible contact with interfering objects, like the armrests of a seat, the side wall of a vehicle, or the body of an adjacent person.

A specific embodiment of the invention which has been found in actual practice to constitute an entirely satisfactory mode of practicing the invention, and which accordingly is at present preferred, is given by way of example in the accompanying drawings forming part of this application for Letters Patent. In these drawings,

FiGURE 1 is a perspective View of a jacket embodying the invention, illustrating one manner in which access is had to one of the pockets;

FIG. 2. is a similar view illustrating another manner in which access is had to the same pocket;

FIG. 3 is a relatively enlarged front elevational view of the garment;

. FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view in elevation of a portion of the inside of the garment, showing particularly the inner surface of one of the pocket structures;

FIG. 5 is a similar view with certain of the layers or sheets of component fabric of the garment disconnected and opened up so as more clearly to show the construction;

FIG. 6 is a still further enlarged detail view in elevation of the inside of the pocket structure, showing par ticularly the pocket-access opening, with parts disconnected and opened up to show the arrangement; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. 5.

The broad principles of the invention, its purpose, objects and advantages, are illustrated and it is believed can well be understood from FIG. 3 and by a comparison of FIGS. 1 and 2 and will now be discussed and explained prior toentering into any detailed disclosure of the specific features of the preferred form of embodiment depicted in FIGS. 4-7.

FIG. 3 shows a jacket of generally well known construction having a pair offront panel portions 1 and 2 best made of some relatively heavy, durable fabric, or even of light leather, and preferably arranged for closure along the front center line of the garment by a slide fastener 3, although it is quite possible within the broad t Bhilhh i Faterateol Feb. 19, 1963 2 scope of the inventive concept to design the jacket with a side opening and/or with button, hook and eye or other closure means, since the invention resides in the pocket construction and arrangement.

As shown in FIGS. 1-3, each of the front panel portions is provided with a pocket. This is the preferred design, although it would be quite possible to limit the pocket arrangement to a single one, located in only one of the front panels. The important point is that the pocket is at a side of the front center line of the garment, which in the present instance is defined by the teeth of the slide fastener 3, and that it is accessible through an opening slit formed in the panel portion. Preferably these slits are elongated narrow openings 4, 5 as shown, provided with flaps 6, 7, integral with or made of the same material as the panel, defined and formed by lines of stitching, in a well known manner. The slits and their flaps extend in a generally vertical direction, with however a relatively slight inclination downwardly and outwardly, and they are open to and penetrable from inner sides of the flaps, i.e., the flaps open along their edges which are adjacent the center line of the jacket and are closed along their edges which are nearer to the jacket sides, where the sleeves are located.

Each slit opens into a pocket which is formed of suitably installed ply of fabric sewed in place behind the sheet that forms the front panel portion. In FIGS. 1-3 these pockets are shown in broken lines and are designated 8 and 9 respectively. They are large and capacious, as is customary in jackets of the type shown, and each extends appreciably below the bottom of its access opening or slit.

FIG. 1 illustrates how the right hand of the wearer is inserted into the pocket on the right hand side of the garment. It will be noted that the forearm is angled acutely with the upper arm and that the elbow protrudes considerably out to the right side. FIG. 2 shows how this same right hand pocket is reached by the left hand of the wearer. It will he observed that the upper arm and forearm angle is no greater than a right angle and that the elbow does not protrude outwardly substantially beyond the vertical plane of the shoulder.

It is believed to be obvious that the FIG. 2 position of the wearer of the jacket is preferable to that of PEG. 1 as being less awkward and involving less discomfort, and as being more easily assumed under certain circumstances involving what may be called crowded conditions, as for example in situations where the wearer is seated close to the side wall of a vehicle, or in a chair having high armrests narrowly spaced apart, or is seated on a crowded bench in a thronged stadium or the like, is standing in a crowd, or in any one of many other familiar situations. Under such conditions each pocket is conveniently accessible by insertion of the opposite hand. indeed, both pockets are accessible simultaneously by simply folding both arms across the abdomen and introducing the right hand into the left pocket and the left hand into the right pocket. The overall width occupied by the wearer in this position is actually less than that required when his arms hang naturally at his side, and the position involves no inconvenience, strain or discomfort of any kind.

But it will be observed that when the pockets are penetrated in the manner shown in FlG. 2, by the hand on the opposite side of the garment, the hand naturally extends into the far side of the pocket, i.e., into what may be called the outer side, remote from the garment center line. Pocket contents in the outer side of the pocket are thus readily reached. However, articles resting in the inner side of the pocket, down in the inner corner of the pocket bottom, can be reached only with considerable difi'iculty, involving distortion of the pocket and jacket material and some contortion of the arm and hand. As a practical matter, access to this inner corner of the pocket requires use of the other hand, the hand on that side, inserted as shown in FIG. 1. This, it will be understood, is true of the prior art, in which the pocket structure is made in the conventional way, and constitutes a defect, disadvantage and objection that is eliminated by the present invention by reason of the new feature of construction that will now be described.

This feature comprises dividing the pocket bottom, or the lower ,zone of the pocket interior, into two side by side compartments or cavities, as shown at 10', 11 in thepocket 8 and at 12, 13 in the pocket 9. This is readily accomplished by such means as the lines ofstitching 14, 15 extending upwardly from the bottom of the respective pockets toward and substantially to the bottom of each slit opening.

By reason of this division of each pocket into two parts or pocket cavities, articles can ;be confined to the-outer cavities 1t} and 13 and be kept in these cavities for ready availability to the hand being inserted from the other side, as shown in FIG. 2. The "wearer soon acquires the habit of putting into these cavities '10 and 13 such articles as he maywant to remove relatively often, e.g., cigarettes and matches, smallchange, and the like. Articles in less demand for removal, such perhaps as a house key, a card case, a pen knife, etc., will be kept in thecavities 11, 12.

The structural arrangements depicted in FIGS. 1-3 are attainable in various ways, as will be understood, within the broad principles of the invention. However, the invention proposes certain specific details that have been incorporated to advantage in the commercial embodiment, and these are made the subject of the more specific claims and will now be described.

FIGS. 4-7 illustrate the right hand front panel, designated 1 in .FiGS. l-3, as viewed from the inside, with various parts of the structure disconnected, opened up and pulled back. The left hand front panel, it will be understood, is similar in construction and arrangement. In FIGS. 47, the relatively heavy outer fabric 2b of the jacket panel 1 is cut, without removal of any material, and folded back to provide the elongated, slightly upwardly and inwardly (centrally) inclinedoblong slot 21.

The cut material is hemmed as at 22, 22, over an interposedlining strip 23 of light material that is cut and opened up, like thesheet 26, as best shown. in FIG. 6. Foldedfiap members 24, 25, of thesame material 2 as the panel 1 are stitched at 26, 27 tosheets 23, 29, respectively, of thin or light material like thematerial 23, and, with the flap members suitably set in overlapping relation over theslot 21, the stitching 3% is run completely around the slot, in oblong design, to fix the flaps and thesheets 23, 29 in position, with the flaps overlapped and closing the slot, and with theflap 25 outermost so that the closed slot has now become a slit that is readily penetrated by a hand moving outwardly, i.e., from the center line of the garment outwardly toward the side of the front panel, as will be clear from a comparison of FIGS. 2 and 3 with PEG. 7.

A main pocket-formingsheet 35 of large, generally rectangular or square shape is now laid over the assembly thus far completed and is sewed in place by a marginal line ofstitching 36, preferably supplemented and reinforced along one or both of the two vertical sides by lines of stitching 37.

It is thissheet 35 that cooperates with thematerial 29 of the panel to constitute thepocket 8, and an important feature of the invention, it will be recalled, is the intro.- duction of a partition or division 14 into the pocket separating it into two parts or cavities 1t), 11. This is readily formed by running the line ofstitching 36 upwardly a short distance from about themid point of its bottom line, as shown in FIG. 4. Specifically, the stitching is run up and then turned over and down, as shown, thus forming a strong partition or division made up of the two parallel lines of stitching designated 40 in FIG. 4. The arrangement is best made such that the partition 14 extends up nearly to the bottom run of the slot-surrounding stitching 3t It will be recognized that thepocket construction is novel in itself in certain respects pointed out by the appended claims, and is novel in relationship to the remainder of the garment and also, in thepreferred embodiment, in the relationship of the two pockets to each other, and that it is immaterial to the principles of the in.- vention whether the pocket be prefabricated and installed in the prepared panel of an otherwise generally finished garment or be set up ply by ply ofmaterial as the garment is made. "It will be noted that the arrangement. of the several plies of material forming the pocket lends itself to prefabrication and subsequent installation, which is a feature of importance in the commercialproduction of the garment in quantity.

The arrangement illustrated by FIGS. .4-7 and particularly described in the foregoing specification is preferred because it has been found-to be easily produced in actual commercial practice and to embody the principles of the invention in a most practical and satisfactory con struction. However, the basic principles of the invention can be embodied otherwise, within the spirit of the the invention and thescope .ofrthe more broadly worded of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A jacket having a pair .of sleeves and a .pair of exterior panel portions each extending from a side edgedirectly beneath one of said sleeves to .a front edge coinciding with the front center line .of the jacket whereby each panel portion constitutes a front quarter portion of the jacket, a pocket in each of said portions underlying the major. part of the area between said edges of the portion, and an access opening in the form of a narrow .slit having parallel side edges provided in each panel portion in communication with the adjacent pocket and extending in a generally vertical direction substantially midway of said area from near the top of said pocket toward the bottom thereof, said pocket having ,a partition extending from the bottom of the pocket up to substantially the bottom of said opening, thereby dividing the pocket into two parts, one on each .side ofthe opening.

2. A jacket as claimed in claim 1, in which each of said access openings is inclined downwardly ,away from the front center line of the jacket.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,089,203 Forman Mar. 3, 1914 2,236,694 Oppenheimer "Apr. 1, 1941 2 ,476,665 Jones July 19, 1949 2,614,258 "Breier Oct.'2l, 1952 2,790,178 Bertneskie Apr. 30, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 11,999 Great Britain May 21, 1912

Claims (1)

1. A JACKET HAVING A PAIR OF SLEEVES AND A PAIR OF EXTERIOR PANEL PORTIONS EACH EXTENDING FROM A SIDE EDGE DIRECTLY BENEATH ONE OF SAID SLEEVES TO A FRONT EDGE COINCIDING WITH THE FRONT CENTER LINE OF THE JACKET WHEREBY EACH PANEL PORTION CONSTITUTES A FRONT QUARTER PORTION OF THE JACKET, A POCKET IN EACH OF SAID PORTIONS UNDERLYING THE MAJOR PART OF THE AREA BETWEEN SAID EDGES OF THE PORTION, AND AN ACCESS OPENING IN THE FORM OF A NARROW SLIT HAVING PARALLEL SIDE EDGES PROVIDED IN EACH PANEL PORTION IN COMMUNICATION WITH THE ADJACENT POCKET AND EXTENDING IN A GENERALLY VERTICAL DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY MIDWAY OF SAID AREA FROM NEAR THE TOP OF SAID POCKET TOWARD THE BOTTOM THEREOF, SAID POCKET HAVING A PARTITION EXTENDING FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE POCKET UP TO SUBSTANTIALLY THE BOTTOM OF SAID OPENING, THEREBY DIVIDING THE POCKET INTO TWO PARTS, ONE ON EACH SIDE OF THE OPENING.

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