Supports: racks – Special article – Hat type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-08-25
2001-08-14
Gibson, Jr., Robert W. (Department: 3634)
Supports: racks
Special article
Hat type
C211S032000, C211S113000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06273274
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a holder for holding a plurality of caps having a foldable crown and a bill.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many people have a substantial collection of billed caps often called “baseball caps” that must be stored somewhere as in a closet. A large collection of billed caps takes considerable space and it is desired to support the stored cap so that its shape is not damaged during storage. Billed baseball caps are extremely popular as they are inexpensive and often bear a logo of a sporting team, such as a baseball team, a football team, a hockey team, etc. Other billed baseball caps may bear the logo of a farm implement or feed supplier or various other kinds of companies. A large number of billed caps bear the name of a vacation spot or exotic location visited by a traveler. Still other billed caps with or without logos are purchased because of fashion or color and material appear to the purchaser. Thus, a family often has a large collection of billed caps for men, women and children that need to be stored.
Preferably, the storage of such billed caps displays the caps to the owner so that the owner may easily select the desired cap from the stored cap collection without having to sort through all of the caps to find the desired cap. Further, the cap holder should preferably be inexpensive and compact. It should be inexpensive so that a purchaser may buy it on impulse, or buy it for oneself or as an inexpensive gift for another. Closet space is at a premium and, hence, the cap holder and stored caps should be closet friendly and compact. The cap holder, of course, need not be used only in a closet, but may be positioned in many places other than a closet.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, a plurality of nested, billed caps having their crowns folded and nested one within the other are inserted into an open pocket of a cap holder mounted to a frame or sheet. The open pocket has a surface for supporting the nested bills and a surface for supporting the folded, nested crowns extending rearwardly toward the support sheet. It is preferred to support the rear-curved side of the rear one of the folded crowns with an outwardly projecting crown support surface projecting into the hollow end of the rear one of the nested caps.
In accordance with an important aspect of the invention, a plurality of folded cap receiving pockets are provided on the backing sheet, which can either be stored flat or horizontal, but is also supplied, in the preferred embodiment described herein, with a hook to be hung vertically as in a closet. The folded cap receiving pockets also may be made of different sizes such as for storing children's size caps, as well as adult size caps. Herein, this is achieved by making a wider pocket and cap support for the adult size caps and a narrower pocket and cap support for the children size caps.
The illustrated folded cap holder is inexpensive and compact in that it is formed with a flat backing support preferably in sheet form with outwardly projecting crown support thereon which projects into the hollow at the rear of the nested folded caps. The nested bills of the folded caps are supported by a vertically inclined bill support surface having an upper, large, open and at the pocket mouth into which the nested cap bills are inserted and then moved downwardly within the pocket. As the cap bills are being inserted into the pocket, the rear curved hollow of the nested crowns are supported by the crown support. The crown support herein is curved and projects into a hollow in the folded crown of the last of the folded nested caps. The bill support is preferably a strip or band of material that is widely spaced from the curved crown support at its upper edge at the mouth of the pocket and abutting or closely adjacent the crown support at its lower edge at the bottom of the pocket. Herein, the bill support is a band of elastic material and the curved bill support is a curved, padded column with upper and lower elastic bands extending there-across to define upper and lower pockets, each for receiving nested, folded crown caps therein.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4993557 (1991-02-01), Davis
patent: 5086931 (1992-02-01), Cobb
patent: 5244102 (1993-09-01), Koenig
patent: 5344003 (1994-09-01), Park
patent: 5348166 (1994-09-01), Lema
patent: 5683002 (1997-11-01), Rayside
patent: 5685465 (1997-11-01), Berardis
patent: 5758779 (1998-06-01), Atkins
Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery
Gibson , Jr. Robert W.
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