The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 28, 1997
Filed:
Dec. 20, 1994
William R Ratcliffe, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
William Blake Ratcliffe, Berwick, CA;
Erik Loose, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
First Choice Trading Limited, Kowloon, HK;
Abstract
The front end of a body portion on a hat (e.g. cap) may be continuous and the rear end may have separable sections. The hat may have a visor to form a cap defined by two (2) cloth layers separated by a backing member (e.g. cardboard). The backing member and the visor lower layer may have matching apertures to receive a module defined by a container and a cover pivotable on the container between open and closed positions. A switch, a battery and a printed circuit board may be disposed in the container. The switch may be manually closed, with the container closed, to energize electrical circuitry on the board. Such energizing may illuminate a member (e.g. LED) preferably disposed on the body portion and optically coupled to a display member to illuminate an individual design on the display member. The display member may be attached to the continuous front external surface of the body portion. Alternatively, the hat may have a band on the internal surface of the body portion. A switch on the band may become automatically closed to illuminate the LED when the body portion is disposed on a wearer's head. Straps on the separable rear sections of the body portion may converge the rear sections when detents on these sections are engaged. A member (e.g. another LED) on one of the straps may become illuminated by the switch closure to illuminate such strap. The strap may illuminate a design on a display member optically coupled to such strap.