Garment with Inflatable Neck Pillow

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The disclosure relates to supportive garments and more particularly pertains to a new supportive garment for supporting a head of a wearer of the garment with an inflatable cushion.

The prior art describes various garments which include a hood and a cushion which is mounted on or near the hood to support the head of the garment's wearer. U.S. Pat. Application No. 2013/0152270 discloses a hooded garment with an inflatable pillow which extends around the back and sides of the wearer's neck when inflated. U.S. Pat. Application No. 2012/0255099 discloses a hooded garment with an inflatable cushion that extends around a rim of the hood. The inflatable cushion of this patent application is described as being positionable around the wearer's neck. However, the prior art fails to describe such a garment which has a hood that is positioned inwardly of an inflatable cushion such that the hood may conform to the wearer's face when the inflatable cushion is inflated.

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a main body which is shaped and configured to be worn on a torso of a user and defines a neck-receiving hole. A hood is coupled to the main body adjacent to the neck-receiving hole. The hood comprises an inner layer and an outer layer, between which an inflatable cushion is held. The inflatable cushion has a U-shape and extends around the neck-receiving hole. A pair of ends of the U-shape face forwardly with respect to the hood. The inner layer of the hood extends past the inflatable cushion substantially tangent to an inner surface of the inflatable cushion when the inflatable cushion is in an inflated state.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular tothereof, a new supportive garment embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeralwill be described.

As best illustrated in, the garmentgenerally comprises a main bodyshaped and configured to be worn on a torso of a user. The main bodydefines a neck-receiving holewhich receives the user'sneck when the garmentis worn. A hoodis coupled to the main bodyadjacent to the neck-receiving hole. The hoodand the main bodyare formed of flexible fabric materials of any suitable type, such as cotton, polyester, wool, or the like. The hoodmay be integrally formed with the main bodyor may be attached to the main bodyvia stitching or any other suitable fastener.

The hoodcomprises an inner layerand an outer layerbetween which an inflatable cushionis held near a base endof the hood. The inflatable cushionhas a U-shapewhich extends around the neck-receiving hole. A pair of endsof the U-shapeface forwardly with respect to the hood. The inner layerof the hoodextends upwardly past the inflatable cushionsubstantially tangent to an inner surfaceof the inflatable cushionwhen the inflatable cushionis in an inflated state. This construction allows for the hoodto remain close to the user'sfaceduring use when the inflatable cushionis in the inflated state. The outer layerturns more sharply away from the inner surfaceto adapt to extend around an outer surfaceof the inflatable cushionand allow the inner layerto conform to the user'sface.

An upper portionof the inner surfaceof the inflatable cushionis concave when the inflatable cushionis in the inflated state. A base of the user'sheadand the user'sjaw may be received into the recess formed by the concave shape of the upper portionof the inner surface. The inflatable cushionalso comprises a protruding portionwhich extends upwardly from the U-shapealong a rear of the hoodto support the user'sheadfrom behind.

A fill tubeis in fluid communication with the inflatable cushionand has an open end. The fill tubeextends inwardly of the hoodfrom the inflatable cushionand is positioned near one of the endsof the U-shapeof the inflatable cushionso that the usermay inflate the cushion by exhaling into the fill tubewhile wearing the garment. A plugis pivotally coupled to the fill tubeand is selectively positionable to close the open endof the fill tube, thereby trapping air within the inflatable cushionto retain the inflatable cushionin the inflated state. In some embodiments, a valve may be positioned in the fill tubewhich allows air only to travel through the fill tubeinto the inflatable cushionunless mechanically opened.

In use, the userwears the garmenton the user'storso and may wear the hoodover the user'shead. The garmentmay be worn with the inflatable cushionin a deflated state, which allows the userto freely tilt the user'sheadtoward the user'sshoulders and back from an upright position as desired. To support the headin the upright position, the userinflates the inflatable cushionby exhaling through the fill tubeor otherwise pressurizing air to flow through the fill tubeinto the inflatable cushion, thereby placing the inflatable cushionin the inflated state. The plugmay be positioned to close the open endof the fill tubeto secure the inflatable cushionin the inflated state. When the useris finished with supporting the headvia the inflatable cushion, the plugis moved away from the open endof the fill tubeand the inflatable cushionis compressed to urge air out of the inflatable cushionthrough the fill tube.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.